Equalities Act 2010 and Club Company

[tesla6518]

atticus

Will try to make this as concise as possible

Friend was a member of a members club for 25yrs (afiliated to RAOB), was a respected financial supporter (tens of thousands of pounds), during Covid epidemic, membership process was suspended.

Feb 2023 membership was submitted for renewal, this was refused, (note: in its history no member of RAOB has been refused membership, unless subjected to disciplinary action).

He believes it is because of his recent civil marriage. The club will not give any reason for the refusal.

The club was originally unincorporated but 2004 became an Incorporated club (Ltd).

To add insult to injury, in recognition of his support over the years, 2018 he was made an honorary member, however a new director who has recently taken over management is denying he has this position

and will not provide the general meeting minutes that prove the fact. He is stating that they no longer have them.

I am of the thought. that a Club Company (incorporated),each member of the club is required to be issued at least one share, This is how the club was managed for the first 8 years,

however when the originating director died, the directors decided to allocate all the shares listed as "500 shares for members" amongst themselves (5 in number).. does this now make it a Proprietary

Company.

All data requests and letter before claim have been ignored.

They will proceed with claim under Equalities Act 2010

any guidance appreciated

@ atticus

[atticus]

Thank you. Not my field. Others may know. NB this is an open forum: Ask a question and someone who is able to may reply.

Have you seen the club rules/constitution? Has anyone spoken to the RAOB (whatever that is)?

[tesla6518]

I tagged you because you seemed to be the person with a general Law knowledge, RAOB is some kind of lodge that does things for charities. it has been around since 1800's and it is really complicated to understand the whole setup. However this club seems to let RAOB use a meeting room, the rest is social club. We have requested a copy of the rules/constitution but they have refused,

[PallasAthena]

RAOB = Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes

Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes - Wikipedia

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes: The powerful secret society with a more pressing financial problem | The Independent | The Independent

[tesla6518]

"Royal" not conferred, only allowed by patents office because they used it for so long.

Antediluvian=In the bible, the era before the great flood (Noah's Ark}, so do not know what relationship this has, as the RAOB was only started in 1821, long after the flood.

[atticus]

Other members here have general and specific legal knowledge and experience.

I thought it might be the Royal and Ancient Order of Bounders.

[PallasAthena]

I thought it might be the Royal and Ancient Order of Bounders.

LoL.

[tesla6518]

Atticus, you would not be far wrong in your assumption

[K147]

atticus

Will try to make this as concise as possible

Friend was a member of a members club for 25yrs (afiliated to RAOB), was a respected financial supporter (tens of thousands of pounds), during Covid epidemic, membership process was suspended.

Feb 2023 membership was submitted for renewal, this was refused, (note: in its history no member of RAOB has been refused membership, unless subjected to disciplinary action).

He believes it is because of his recent civil marriage. The club will not give any reason for the refusal.

The club was originally unincorporated but 2004 became an Incorporated club (Ltd).

To add insult to injury, in recognition of his support over the years, 2018 he was made an honorary member, however a new director who has recently taken over management is denying he has this position

and will not provide the general meeting minutes that prove the fact. He is stating that they no longer have them.

I am of the thought. that a Club Company (incorporated),each member of the club is required to be issued at least one share, This is how the club was managed for the first 8 years,

however when the originating director died, the directors decided to allocate all the shares listed as "500 shares for members" amongst themselves (5 in number).. does this now make it a Proprietary

Company.

All data requests and letter before claim have been ignored.

They will proceed with claim under Equalities Act 2010

any guidance appreciated

@ atticus

Has he addressed the concerns with the club yet? My advice would be to collect as much information as possible that seeks to contradict what they may then put in writing to undermine their response - record chats with people close to the club. Once you've then done that then put concerns to them in a letter before action. They will have to respond to that. You can also send an email to the club seeking to get membership as someone else who is gay and see what happens.

The equality act (2010) is a pretty powerful tool that protects people in these circumstances and once you know their attitude you can be pretty sure why they have taken the route with your friend. Remember you only need to show on the balance of probability in civil cases.

[tesla6518]

Thank K147

For the past 3 mths they have requested information SAR etc only to have them all disregarded and no reply whtsoever.

We sent a Letter before Claim which they have also ignored so proceeding to legal action

[R0b]

If your friend is taking legal action and in the process of doing that, I am not sure what purpose this serves. Anyway, there's are few things that threw me off a bit form your initial post.

1. You refer to the club being an 'incorporated club' but I assume you mean the club has now transitioned to being set up as a limited company by shares (you mentioned shares and directors in your post).

2. Strangely, you wander from referring to the club as what I understand is a limited company, to a proprietary company but there is no such thing as a proprietary company. Proprietary companies is a term used in Australia and denoted with "pty" in the company name.

3. It is a legal requirement for companies to keep board minutes for at least 10 years from the date of the meeting. Failure to do so means each of the directors (or a specific director if found to be solely responsible) could be punished for non-compliance as it's a criminal offence. I'm not actually sure which body has authority to prosecute criminal offences under the Companies Act 2006 but I presume it will be the registrar of companies.