''Weaver v National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education''

988 Year 988 ( CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organiz ...

ICR 599 EAT is a

UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...

case, concerning racial discrimination.

Facts

The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education refused to give advice or assistance to a woman lecturer who wanted to bring a claim for racial harassment against a fellow worker at Bournville College of Further Education because the worker could lose his job. It was then the policy of the Union not to support a case against a Union member if that member's job could be put at risk.

Judgment

The Employment Tribunal upheld the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

’s decision not to assist, on the grounds that the Union's policy was justifiable, even if the case involved allegations of race discrimination. The

Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions ...

dismissed the appeal against that decision.Weaver v NATFHE
/ref> The case is cited in ''Harvey's Industrial Relations and Employment Law'': "union justified in not assisting applicants discrimination claim since it would have jeopardised the job of a fellow member."Harvey Q 90 (Q 213) The Industrial Tribunal's judgement was that NATFHE could rely on the justification defence, which was that it had a legitimate duty (in light of its then policy) to protect the tenure of its members, to avoid conflicts in its representation of members and to avoid breaches of obligations to members whose tenure is at risk which outweighs the limited discriminatory effect of the condition imposed. As the Tribunal stated, "There is no evidence whatsoever that the union imposed the condition in race cases any differently than in cases of assault or theft or sexual harassment.” Lord Triesman contributed to establishing the extant precedent. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, chaired by Justice Popplewell, upheld the Industrial Tribunal decision, as did Lord Justice May in an application for the case to be heard before the Court of Appeal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver V Natfhe 1988 in United Kingdom case law Labour relations in the United Kingdom Employment Appeal Tribunal cases United Kingdom trade union case law 1988 in labor relations