Asda is being threatened with legal action for alleged racial discrimination after insisting that Muslim employees produce their passports to prove they had the right to work in the UK.
At one of the supermarket’s main depots, a manager read out ‘foreign-sounding’ names over the public address system, telling them to report immediately to the manager’s office.
The workers, who were all Muslims, were ordered to produce evidence that they were not illegal immigrants. At least one was threatened with the sack unless he produced his passport the next day, reports the Independent.
The GMB general union said there was evidence that management used the same tactics elsewhere.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
A spokesman for Asda told the paper that the company fully accepted that the managers in question had handled the situation poorly.
“We are fully committed to equality in the workplace and we deeply regret what happened,” he said.
