Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Bullying and harassmentEmployment lawEquality, diversity and inclusionRace discriminationReligious discrimination

Caste conflict: legal dilemma

by Personnel Today 10 Jul 2009
by Personnel Today 10 Jul 2009

I own a small business, employing eight people. One of my employees, a Hindu, is refusing to work with her new line manager because she is a Dalit or, as she says, a ‘lower caste’. Our business is small so there is no scope to relocate or separate them. What do I do?

‘Dalit’ is a term for a group of people traditionally regarded as of low caste and was historically made up of numerous caste groups all over South Asia speaking various languages.

The caste system itself is a social phenomenon and has no genetic basis, and was formally abolished under the Indian constitution in 1976. Many commentators and organisations feel that the caste system has been imported into the UK labour market, and groups are campaigning for caste to be specifically covered in the Equality Bill.

The Bill is currently working its way through Parliament and aims to consolidate nine existing equality laws into a single law that will tackle disadvantage and discrimination based on race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, but it does not expressly deal with caste discrimination at present.

Turning to your problem, caste discrimination is not specifically recognised in existing UK legislation and, because of its fluid nature, it does not naturally fall into the camps of race or religious discrimination. For instance, many Dalits follow the Hindu faith. However, individual aspects of caste may well be caught by discrimination legislation.

On a practical level, you should encourage dialogue between the individuals to see whether the matter can be resolved informally. If this does not work, it may be that the problem is suited to mediation by a third party, and I would refer you to the new Acas Guide on Discipline and Grievances on this point.

You should certainly take advice throughout the process as the issues involved here are potentially complex as you are balancing the competing rights of two workers. If you reach a position whereby the Hindu employee simply refuses to work with the Dalit employee, you may be faced with having to make a decision in relation to the Hindu employee’s continued employment.

Without wishing to over simplify the issue, the question to ask yourself is whether you would treat a non-Hindu worker in the same manner as this Hindu worker if they were refusing to work with a colleague due to their perceived ‘status’ or their race or religion?

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

If the answer is yes, you should be in a position to defend a claim on the basis that the dismissal was substantially fair and was not less favourable treatment or tainted by discrimination on the basis of race and/or religious belief.

Emma Harvey, partner, DWF

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Swine flu – top tips for employers
next post
HR news today: Gender pay gap lives on; Disabled man awarded £78,000 at tribunal; Acas bid to avert Aberdeen transport strike; Carlisle council to sack staff over pay cut agreement

You may also like

Fire and rehire: the relocation question

22 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Consultation launched after Supreme Court ‘sex’ ruling

20 May 2025

Black security manager awarded £360k after decade of...

20 May 2025

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

CBI chair Soames accuses ministers of not listening...

16 May 2025

EHRC bows to pressure and extends gender consultation

15 May 2025

Culture, ‘micro-incivilities’ and invisible talent

14 May 2025

Contract cleaner loses EAT race discrimination appeal

14 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+