Last summer Mohsin Mohmed hit the headlines when he took rail company Virgin to an employment tribunal after he was sacked for refusing to shave off his beard.

In what was believed to be the first case to be brought under the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003, Mohmed, a devout Muslim, also refused to serve alcoholic drinks to first class customers, and claimed he was a victim of racial and religious discrimination and harassment.

Managers, it was alleged, told him to wear gloves, refused to allow him to wear a skullcap and repeatedly asked him to shave his beard. Last week Mohmed lost his case. Virgin Trains argued that Mohmed was dismissed for his "general lack of enthusiasm", and that the length of his beard was never an issue. The company said it welcomed the "landmark" decision to dismiss the complaints.

But religious discrimination cases can be successful. A Muslim worker who was sacked after he went on a trip to Mecca has just won his case for unfair dismissal. Mohammed Khan used holiday time and unpaid leave from his job cleaning buses in Bradford to spend six weeks in the holy city last winter. He said he asked for the leave twice and believed it had been approved, but was subsequently sacked for gross misconduct. The tribunal found Khan was unfairly dismissed under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003.

Although such cases are rare, they show that religious discrimination is becoming a real issue and something caterers, restaurateurs and hoteliers should not take lightly, not least because from next month the maximum award that can be made for unfair dismissal rises from £55,000 to £78,640.

The outcome of the Khan case has massive implications for workers who claim holiday entitlement to celebrate religious festivals, and raises a number of interesting questions. For example, does the legislation allow Christians to demand time off at Christmas, or could they refuse to work on Sundays? The way the regulations have been drafted could also cause further problems. The laws fail to provide an all-encompassing definition of religion or belief, meaning that the ultimate decision as to who is protected or not will lie with the courts.

More than a year after the new laws came in (see opposite), according to the latest research, the majority of small businesses are either unaware or worryingly complacent about the issue. A study by the magazine Equal Opportunities Review at the end of last year found that less than a third of employers felt the new law, and a similar one on sexual orientation, would have any impact on their business. Just one in 10 had provided relevant training to staff, and only a third asked their employees about their religion or belief, something employment lawyers recommend as a good first step to avoid being hauled before a tribunal further down the line.

Of course it may not affect you. Just two out of five employers polled said they had received requests for time off for religious observance. But the percentage is likely to be much higher for the multiethnic hospitality industry, warns Dave Turnbull of the T&G union. For most employers in the sector, issues of discrimination, of whatever nature, are normally not even on the radar until it's too late. "People tend to carry on regardless until they come to these issues or until someone raises it with them," he says.

Most employers, he believes, simply keep their fingers crossed that, with a relatively transient workforce and high turnover levels, they're unlikely to face a tribunal. At a practical level, the main issue for employers is almost less religion itself - although issues such as not being able to handle meat might be problematical - and more prayer. Should you, for instance, allow Jewish workers to take the Sabbath off or allow Muslim workers time off during the day to pray to Mecca? Should you, too, have a dedicated prayer room, again likely to be a problem in a small establishment?

The law is unclear about exactly how far you have to go to accommodate people's beliefs and when you can say enough is enough, argues Jonathan Exten-Wright, a partner in legal firm DLA Piper. "There has to be a sense of balance, but that's easier said than done. People will have to approach it on a case-by-case basis, look at it from a practical point of view and be sensitive," he suggests.

Before hoteliers and restaurateurs despair at the wooliness of all this, however, there are things that can be done. The very uncertainty of the situation can be of benefit to the employer defending his case.

If you're landed with a tribunal case on the grounds of religious discrimination, being able to show that you take the issue seriously, have taken action and, critically, have an equal opportunities policy in place will go a long way, Exten-Wright says. "Without a policy that's been enforced, you're going to have some difficulty persuading a tribunal that you take the issue seriously," he suggests.

Equal opportunities policies can be downloaded from the internet - from www.simply-docs.co.uk, or from www.clickdocs.co.uk - but we recommend getting a specialist employment lawyer to cast an eye over it.

It's also important, suggests the T&G's Turnbull, to communicate the policy to managers and employees. "Employers may often have good policies on paper, but aren't good at implementing them in practice. You can have good documentation, but it's about training line managers to implement it," he advises.

With a bit of sensitivity, employers may even be able to turn firm religious beliefs to the advantage of their business. Muslim workers may, for instance, want to take off the last day of Ramadan but happily work on Christmas Day instead.

No busy employer can be expected to know the ins and outs of every religion, so speak to the person you're employing and find out whether there are issues you need to be aware of before they become a problem, argues Exten-Wright.

This conversation, of course, needs to be handled sensitively, perhaps broached in the context of explaining that you are an equal-opportunities employer. "It's important to do it in an open and constructive fashion," stresses Exten-Wright. It's also important to ensure that you handle the information, and who has access to it, in a sensitive way so that you don't fall foul of data protection laws.

Ultimately, the key point to remember is that, while it's impossible to guarantee that you won't be hit by a messy and expensive tribunal case further down the line, taking a few simple steps such as these could make life a lot easier.



Accommodating Religious Beliefs

Clothing/appearance
If your workplace requires a certain uniform or "look", make that clear right from the beginning, and discuss any conflicts that may arise. You must be able to show a tribunal you've been reasonable, taken any issues seriously and explored all options.

Handling food
How should you react if a chef or other employee says they cannot handle certain food, for instance pork, for religious reasons? Again, the answer is, unfortunately, "it depends". Depending on the role and seniority of the person, it may be possible to adjust how they work. But you do still have a business to run. If, assuming all avenues have been explored constructively and reasonably, and it's clear their religious beliefs now mean it's simply impossible for them to do their job, then you may have grounds for dismissal. One proviso is whether you were aware they had such strong beliefs, and so had implicitly accepted them as employable, when you hired them. Either way, it's probably worth taking advice before acting.

Hair
Health and safety regulations are clear on the issue that those handling food need to keep long hair tied back or otherwise restrained. For dreadlocks, a hygienic head covering may be considered reasonable, and for long beards, perhaps a net. The issue of whether you can force an employee to trim their locks or facial hair for appearance's sake, as in the Mohmed case, is much less clear-cut and, again, worth taking advice on.

Time off/time to pray
Accommodating everyone's religious holidays - Eid, Ramadan, Divali, the Sabbath, Christmas, and so on - may seem like a nightmare juggling act, but can actually make good business sense. As long as you have fair warning, a good rota system, and everyone is prepared to be reasonable, it may not be too hard. Demanding regular time to pray is more of a problem. Allowing someone to disappear, say, five times a day could be disruptive and cause resentment. Again, it's a question of being reasonable. Can this demand be reasonably accommodated? If not, do you have a firm, business-based argument as to why not?


The Law
Since December 2003 all employers have been governed by new regulations designed to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of religious belief. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 define religion or belief as being any religion, religious belief or similar philosophical belief.

The difficulty with all this, of course, is that belief is a hugely grey area, and the regulations don't include a list of recognised religions. Employment tribunals will look closely at what constitutes a religion or belief, and whether the employee's belief system affects the way they work or their outlook on life.

As in any discrimination case, an employer could be judged discriminatory even if it's unintentional or indirect. But that's not to say all is lost from the employer's point of view. There is a defence in law of genuine occupational requirement - ie, that the actions under scrutiny needed to be taken because of the nature of the job.

Being able to show you take the issue seriously and have some sort of policy in place which has been communicated to managers and employees is also hugely important.