In Nurdin Jivraj v. Sadruddin Hashwani, the English Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the English High Court, which had held that arbitrators are not employees within the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief ) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1660), and held that arbitrators are employees for the purposes of the Regulations. The English Court of Appeal found that an arbitration agreement stipulating that all the arbitrators should be members of the Ismaili community was unlawful and void because such restrictions were contrary to regulation 6(1), which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in relation to employment. This decision has the potential to restrict the power of parties over the composition of the arbitral tribunal, thereby limiting party autonomy, one of the fundamental principles of international arbitration.
Journal of International Arbitration