Employment

World Cup Fever - Football is a religion?

It is officially World Cup season and World Cup frenzy is definitely under way.   The day time (or otherwise work time) matches may cause a problem for many employers, as thousands of worker or employee fans want to watch the matches important to them.  For some employees, this will be every match but for most it will be the matches played by their favourite team.

Many employers are already anticipating the potential motivation and absenteeism problems which may arise during the tournament.  Some employers are electing to allow flexibility to permit people to watch certain matches and requiring employees/workers to have early start or finish times or otherwise make up the time.  Others are adopting a no tolerance approach and have already started communicating this to employees/workers in advance.  ACAS are encouraging open and early communication and also flexibility in the interests of "team spirit".

Whatever your approach, consistency is the key to avoiding an unexpected discrimination claim.  Many employers are focused on the England games, but do so at their peril.  We have a varied and diverse workforce in the UK and employers should not forget their colleagues with multicultural or non English backgrounds.  Inconsistency of treatment could get employers into hot water.  Equally, if employers want to avoid complaints and possible claims for other forms of discrimination such as religious or sex discrimination, employers should consider their usual approach to flexibility for other non world cup/football related issues when deciding whether to offer flexible working in relation to the world cup.

I'm just waiting for the next bombshell case similar to the "views on climate change can be a religion" case, which decides that football supporters have protection from religious discrimination!  Hopefully for employers everywhere, we will never see that day!