On a recent layover in an airport lounge, Donovan was wearing his Arsenal kit when a man walked by, pointed at the crest, and with a British accent said: "Oy, you got some dirt on your chest."
It took Donovan a minute to process. And then, barely missing a beat, he got up, walked over to the man, and asked, "Are you a Spurs fan?" ("Spurs," short for Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal's North London neighbor and most despised rival.)
The man replied, "I am."
To which Donovan, at the top of his lungs, yelled: "PISS OFF!"
Then he turned and walked back to our table, leaving the man chuckling with his family.
As funny as that story is, an employment tribunal in London just ruled that workplace dynamics around football rivalries like this can actually be a lawful reason to reject a job applicant.
A judge said that if a small office is full of Arsenal fans, for example, it's not unlawful discrimination for the employer to pass over an equally qualified Tottenham supporter if they think it might damage office harmony.
The claimant also referred to case law where the courts and tribunals have raised their concerns around employers using the metric of fit and/or cultural matching when determining who to give a job to. I accept that a degree of caution needs to be used here, but remind myself that there is nothing that explicitly prevents such an assessment. There may be times when it is perfectly lawful for an employer to decide that somebody just will not be a fit with the team and that therefore it would be difficult to work together. An example of this could be a small company where everybody who works in the office is an ardent support of Arsenal Football Club, and they decide to pick an Arsenal fan at interview over a similarly qualified Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder because they do not want to damage the harmony of the office.The decision there would be lawful (albeit taking the example to the extreme would not necessarily be good for business).
Employers must always be mindful that concepts like "personality," "culture," or "fit" can too easily mask unlawful discrimination, and they must take care to ensure such considerations are not used as pretexts for bias.
Still, the tribunal's football example is a reminder that while protected classes are always off-limits in hiring decisions, employers do have some latitude to consider workplace dynamics. The example may seem extreme, but it highlights the role team harmony can play, and underscores that not every unfavorable hiring outcome amounts to unlawful discrimination.
Finally, if you remember only one thing from today's post, let it be this: it's never wrong to discriminate against a Spurs fan.