Tanna v Post Office: EAT 1981

The applicant sought appointment as a post-master, and claimed race discrimination when the respondent failed to interview or appoint him. He was required only to provide premises and to ensure that services were provided without being obliged personally to do anything.
Held: The contract which he sought as a sub-postmaster would not require him ‘personally to execute work’. These words required ‘that the person entering into a contract shall himself be under an obligation personally to do work or labour.’ and ‘It is a contract personally to execute any work or labour. That, it seems to us, quite plainly requires that the person entering into a contract shall himself be under an obligation personally to do work or labour. It may well be that some of what he undertakes to do he may delegate, but in our judgment it is essential, for there to be ’employment’, that the person making the contract shall himself undertake to do, at any rate some of the work or labour.’ The section did not apply.
References: [1981] ICR 374
Judges: Slynn P
Statutes: Race Relations Act 1976 78(1)
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
This case cites:

This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Kelly v Northern Ireland Housing Executive; Loughran v Northern Ireland Housing Executive HL 29-Jul-1998
    Provisions against discrimination on religious grounds in Northern Ireland, could apply to appointment of a firm to a panel of experts, where one person was designated to carry out that work. ‘it is essential, for there to be ’employment,’ that the . .
    (Times 14-Sep-98, , Gazette 23-Sep-98, , [1998] 3 WLR 735, [1998] UKHL 33, [1999] 1 AC 428, [1998] ICR 828, [1998] NI 240, [1998] IRLR 593)
  • Cited – Jivraj v Hashwani SC 27-Jul-2011
    The parties had a joint venture agreement which provided that any dispute was to be referred to an arbitrator from the Ismaili community. The claimant said that this method of appointment became void as a discriminatory provision under the 2003 . .
    (, [2011] UKSC 40, , , , UKSC 2010/0170, UKSC 2010/0158, [2011] IRLR 827, [2011] 32 EG 54, [2011] ArbLR 28, [2011] Bus LR 1182, [2011] ICR 1004, [2011] CILL 3076, [2011] 1 WLR 1872)

These lists may be incomplete.
Last Update: 27 November 2020; Ref: scu.194282