Boohene and others (Appellants) v The Royal Parks Ltd (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0030

Parties

Appellant(s)

Geneviv Boohene, Agnes Yeboah, Hagar Benthum Brook, Ernestina Antwi, Gioseppe Marro, Jennifer Masqoi, Dapaah Kofi, Margaret Safoowa, Daniel Antwi, Janet Martey, Sadiq Quadri, Adebayo Obadare, Patricia Panford, Frank Behoe, Regina Tetteh and Alex Castro

Respondent(s)

The Royal Parks Limited

Issue

The scope of section 41 of the Equality Act 2010 as to claims brought by outsourced workers (against a principal) in respect of the terms of their employment (by a contractor/supplier).

Facts

RPL is a charity responsible for managing the Royal Parks and certain other open spaces in London. To that end, it outsources large quantities of essentially manual work to agency workers (as did its predecessor organisation, the Royal Parks Agency (or “RPA”)). Its own, directly employed, workers generally perform office work. In accordance with that policy, RPA entered into a 5-year contract with Vinci Construction Ltd (“Vinci”) in 2014. The Claimants were all indirectly employed by RPL/RPA pursuant to that arrangement (being directly employed by Vinci). All but one of the Claimants are of black or other minority ethnic (“BME”) origin. RPA/RPL paid the London Living Wage (“LLW”) to its directly employed workers, but did not insist that its contractors did the same in relation to its indirectly employed workers. When Vinci tendered for the 2014 contract, it offered alternative tenders priced according to whether the LLW would be paid. RPA accepted the non-LLW tender. In its letter of acceptance it stated that it reserved the right to revisit the LLW point during the lifetime of the contract. In 2019, in response to union pressure, RPL decided that its contractors should switch to paying the LLW by April 2023 at the latest. In relation to the Vinci contract, that took effect as of November 2019. The Claimants brought a claim against RPL on the basis that RPL/RPA’s previous failure to require Vinci to pay the LLW amounted to racial discrimination contrary to the Equality Act 2010. The Employment Tribunal agreed but its decision was overturned in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, and the appeal was dismissed at the Court of Appeal. The Claimants now appeal to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

18 February 2025

Case origin

PTA

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