Discrimination: Marks and Spencer Checkout Row

Marks and Spencer: Merry Christmas Happy Festive Period

 

Marks and Spencer announced following a customer complaint that any members of staff who for religious reasons do not wish to handle meat products and alcohol can politely refuse to do so and direct the customer (who may have patiently waited in a queue) to another checkout queue.

Is this a storm in a teacup? Are M&S being overly sensitive to the varying religious needs of its staff, and is it required by employment law?

What struck me primarily is how on earth in practice is this going to work? Following the well-publicised furore into the contents of pre prepared food this year with the ‘horse meat’ scandal, how efficiently can these employees protect themselves from the offending substances?  Second to that, this is not going to go down well with customers, particularly those who have queued for long periods of time, especially at this festive time of year when alcohol is brimming from many shopping trollies.

Employers should respect their employees’ religious choices, though there have been well publicised cases which show that employers do not have to bend over backwards. Employees who refuse to undertake certain activities can be lawfully redeployed elsewhere in the store, indeed Tesco has taken this stance. Sainsbury’s have been even bolder stating that there is no reason just because a person can’t consume the products that they can’t be handled within packaging.

Should an employee raise a grievance concerning such a matter the employer would have to investigate and act reasonably. The instance with the Muslim checkout dealing with pork and alcohol is currently being debated by the press; however M&S say their policy extends to all religions and beliefs. Would this mean a Christian cashier could refuse to serve a homosexual couple and refer them onto another checkout? How about separate canteen areas for Muslim, Christian and Jewish employees? Or a ban on wishing each other Merry Christmas?

M&S may have opened a can of worms and in my opinion are inviting internal grievances. The policy will be nearly impossible to implement with any kind of structure, something which should be borne in mind when drafting employee handbooks.

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