UK work permit: Court rules in favour of Indian law students
April 07 2009 by Gareth McConnell
A judgement by the UK Employment Appellate Tribunal, that could affect thousands of young people who want to work and study in the UK, has decided UK law firms who don’t accept job applications from non-EEA residents can be deemed as racially discriminating.
The ruling follows a case brought by Indian student, Ashokvardhan
Purohit, who accused top UK law firm, Osborne Clarke Services, of
discrimination for rejecting his application for an internship because
he needed a UK work permit.
"The Tribunal determined that the requirement or condition applied was that somebody does not require a work permit and that the proportion of non-EEA nationals who could comply with that
requirement was smaller than the portion of persons not in that group
who could comply with it.
The Tribunal determined that the
employers could not justify that requirement or condition and it is the
issue of justification which is the subject of this appeal."
"This
case is going to help a lot of my fellow Indian nationals and other
non-European Economic Area nationals to apply for the jobs in the UK
and get their selection based on merit," said Purohit.
"This is not limited to legal sector. It is applicable to each and every sector of employment as the issue of work permit is required for taking up employment in any sector within the UK for a non-EEA National," he said.
According
to the Law Society of England and Wales, several large firms have a
similar bans on prospective trainees who would require a UK work permit. Applicants from countries outside the EEA, include those from India, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and China.
Have you been affected by changes to UK work permits or the introduction of Tier 4 student visas? Leave your comments on our blog.
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