Employers advised against knee-jerk reaction to BNP list

Employers are being warned to proceed with caution if they discover their members of staff belong to the British National Party (BNP).  

This week, a leaked online membership list on the far-right party’s web site gave the names and personal contact details of 10,000 people in a wide variety of jobs, including police officers - who are banned from being in the BNP.

Every police force in the UK has been scouring the leaked membership list for names of serving officers, who will face disciplinary action and are likely to be dismissed. Merseyside police confirmed it was investigating one officer's links to the party. The Prison Service has also pledged to oust any employee who belong to the BNP.

BNP members can only be legally barred from working in the police or for the Prison Service. But several party members now say they fear a backlash from their employers, and the prospect of disciplinary action, after their membership became public knowledge.  

But Chris Mordue, employment partner at law Pinsent Masons, warns employers that simply taking disciplinary action is not straightforward:

"It will depend on the individual employer because, particularly for public sector organisations who have a positive duty to promote equality of opportunity and race relations, membership of the BNP alone may be concern enough for them to feel that they need to act or maybe even dismiss the employee concerned.

"Employers with employees on this list are going to be asked publicly what they intend to do about it. We counsel against a knee-jerk response. That is not to say that employers should not take action, just that they need to think through all of the very complex legal issues before they do."

The membership list includes teachers, doctors, nurses and members of the Armed Forces, and while people in these jobs are not actively banned from joining the BNP, the party's anti-immigration policies are seen by some organisations as incompatible with front-line public service.

One employment law firm has offered pro free representation to any employee who faces disciplinary action as a result of the leak, which party leader Nick Griffin has blamed on ‘a disgruntled former party worker.’