Is it possible to have a blanket ban on employing people from a particular country? That question came up last week when it was reported that Indian owned franchises in Cricket’s summer tournament The Hundred would not recruit Pakistani players due to the ongoing political tensions between the two countries.
Under the Equality Act, it is not allowed to discriminate on ‘colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origins”. And as UK employers, the different teams are bound by UK employment law. So how can the alleged ban be legal?
UK employment law protects anyone eligible to work in the UK – this includes not only UK citizens, but citizens of Ireland, anyone with ‘indefinite leave to remain’ and anyone working here with a valid work visa. Sportspeople in the UK are employees like anyone else and are normally here on International Sportsperson Visas.
When it comes to recruitment, an employer is not obliged to consider candidates who are not eligible to work in the UK and they are not required to advertise in any specific location. So in that sense, cricket teams in the UK are not required to consider players from any country. However, The Hundred operates on an ‘auction’ system where players apply centrally and the different teams bid for the players they want. It’s been reported that a number of Pakistani players have put their names into the auction, so they are in effect job applicants who need to be treated in the same way as applicants from Australia, South Africa, West Indies etc.
In practice, this is all a theoretical argument. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for someone who is not eligible to work in the UK to make a claim via an Employment Tribunal. And even if they could, it would be open to a team to defend an individual claim on the basis that the player didn’t have the right skill set (they were a batter and the team wanted a fast bowler for example). If the player in question was a British player of Pakistani heritage, or someone with dual British/Pakistani nationality, the issue might be different however.
It’s a very unwise step to have a blanket ban on people of a specific nationality and doubly so for it to become widely known. Even if the teams in question can get away with it legally (which they probably can) there is the ethical question – especially in a sport which has faced serious accusations of racism in recent years. As the old saying goes “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it”.
For younger readers, the title of this post refers to a blanket ban that Rangers FC in Glasgow had against employing Roman Catholics or signing Catholic players – a policy which was only ended, to some controversy, as recently as 1989.
