Trade union protection

The Court of Appeal has held that an employer, who withheld a pay rise from a recently promoted employee until such time as she gave up her union duties, had taken detrimental action against her for trade union reasons.

The employers tried to argue that they had not "taken action" they had merely "omitted" to do something, that is to pay her at the new rate, and that an "omission" was not included in the definition of detrimental action. The court rejected this argument and ruled that it was clear that the reason why she had not been given the pay increase was to persuade her to stop her union activities. The case was taken under section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The Act has since been amended and now provides greater guarantees to employees faced with discriminatory treatment on trade union grounds.

LB Southwark v Whillier The Times Law Reports 29.6.01