Instruction not to speak native language not discriminatory

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld an employment tribunal's decision that an instruction to an employee not to speak Russian at work was not direct race discrimination or race harassment. The employer has a reasonable explanation for its actions which was unrelated to the employee's nationality or national origins. Taken in the context of the employer's activities in carrying out animal testing and the security requirements arising from this, it was reasonable for it to ask the employee, who had been acting suspiciously, to refrain from speaking in her native language in order that conversations in the workplace were capable of being understood by its English-speaking managers. (Kelly v Covance Laboratories Ltd UKEAT/0186/15.)