Needless to say, an employee's membership of an extremist organisation like the BNP can throw up endless problems. A common scenario is where an employee's membership brings the employer's business into disrepute exerting a detrimental impact on the business's brand and its relationship with clients and suppliers who refuse to deal with the business (or threaten to do so). Problems also invariably arise where the employee's role involves establishing relationships of trust with individuals of other nationalities (either inside or outside the business) and their membership of the extremist organisation in question has made that impossible or where the employee is in a position of authority and required to act impartiality.

Employers considering dismissal on the grounds of an employee's membership of an extremist organisation such as the BNP must be able to persuade an employment tribunal that they have acted reasonably in dismissing the employee in the particular circumstances of the case, and still need to follow a fair procedure. Employers are more likely to successfully defend a decision to dismiss in these circumstances if they can demonstrate that the employee's membership has compromised their ability to carry out their duties or damaged the business itself.

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