M&S have dropped a clanger

Not too fussed about the story but I'm curious about how discrimination laws work. By pandering to one set of religious beliefs are m&s not disappointing against all other religions unless they plan to do the same for them? The most obvious one being Christians not having to work always but no doubt there are many more
 
I see people attacking Muslims. As I have previously stated this is caused by a small Minority of Muslims, this rule applies to anyone who has a religious belief not JUST MUSLIMS. The fact of the matter is the rule shouldn't exist for anyone, you are an employee of a food store..That food stores policy is to sell you food and drink as long as you are within the legal age limit to purchase such as alcohol. The employee must abide by that or face the sack , the Employer should not have to abide by the employees religion in relation to this matter else the company will be seen as changing policy which in turn leads to a P.R nightmare like we have here.

In short: It's Christmas so especially don't go attacking a race of persons, M&S need to reverse this, No company should have to compromise its policy in the face of religion or any other belief.
 
M&S clothing isn't doing all that great while their food part is doing well, so they decide to stir this divisive crap up to dent the successful part of the business. Couldn't make it up.
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
Sounds like a reason not to employ muslims to me.

In the end they will come off worse.
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but if you refuse to emply someone on grounds of their religious beliefs then your breaking the law.


alternatively if your an idiot and interpret some fairytale in a way that says your not allowed to handle prepacked pork or booze then your protected by the law of the land.


for the love of god if a country were to deem religion illegal i'd emigrate there tomorrow, its just a stick for a minority of idiots and evil doers to beat the rest of us with
 
Yep, the PR person for M&S must be having an apoplexy right now, his core business customers are Telegraph readers who don't like change, don't like the serving plebes getting uppity and probably don't much like Muslims or Jonny Foreigner to begin with.
To have their favourite British store effectively shove the separatist ideology of Islam in their face will seriously rustle their jimmies.

Perfect Storm :D
 
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I print the Daily Mail, does it give me the right to not print it on occasion (well mostly) that I don't agree with the editorial content? no, because it's my job :D
 
While I think their hearts are in the right place, it can't be practical. It's like a pub having a bunch of under-18s at the bar. Why hire someone who can't fulfil the role as well as someone else who can?

I presume the number of staff using this won't be particularly high, but if all of the muslim staff started using it, then it sort of creates grounds for religious discrimination when hiring because you are going to have to have staff on hand to serve those products, while running the flexible part time shifts these places usually run. That seems like a slippery slope to me.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
The real problem with this sort of law is that it generates unnecessary hatred.
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I doubt its based on law. More likely pnicky policy as they dont wont the threat of court.

The issue i see is they shouldnt need to provide such things. A big company like M&s i doubt they care with so many workers its easy to negate one or two in the whole country.
But you aren't allowed to ask for belives on application. But you are meant to declare things like health which would affect you work, so surly such a company could be in their right if they sacked such a person as they didnt disclose at application they wouldnt handle x/y/z

Any top HR people in here.
The motorbike helmet many stores has also annoys me, should be one rule for everyone, regardless of belives or lack there off.
 
Glaucus said:
I doubt its based on law. More likely pnicky policy as they dont wont the threat of court.

The issue i see is they shouldnt need to provide such things. A big company like M&s i doubt they care with so many workers its easy to negate one or two in the whole country.
But you aren't allowed to ask for belives on application. But you are meant to declare things like health which would affect you work, so surly such a company could be in their right if they sacked such a person as they didnt disclose at application they wouldnt handle x/y/z

Any top HR people in here.
The motorbike helmet many stores has also annoys me, should be one rule for everyone, regardless of belives or lack there off.
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It'll be based on anti-discrimination laws - M&S just don't want the hassle of being taken to court over it in the first place and must reckon that the adverse publicity over it is less costly. Either that or they didn't expect it to blow up in their faces.

It would be interesting to know if they ever had issues with muslim staff refusing to sell goods prior to the guidance being issued. I suspect they didn't.
 
Even if they did, it was probably be one individual.
And yes i expects its a we don't wont to go to court, and i doubt they would expect it to blow up, how would anyone find out.
However i doubt such a case in court would win, so not based on law.
 
Classic case of Islamaphobia being promoted by the Telegraph here.

e policy applies throughout its 700-plus stores. The spokesman said the policy of tolerance applied to other religions, so, for example, Christians who did not want to work on Sundays and religious Jews who chose not to work on Saturdays would also be excused. “This is something we decide on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesman added.
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So in effect the Telegraph chose to highlight this 'case-by-case basis' that M&S have adopted as being primarily targeted at muslim employees - what a load of crock.

Nice to see the resident islamaphobes jumping on this....... typical.
 
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