The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal held there was associative direct discrimination when the mother of a disabled child was dismissed. In McCorry & others as the committee of the Ardoyne Association v McKeith (bailii.org) the claimant had a disabled child who was cared for by a family friend. Her manager sometimes insisted she take... Read more »
A misconduct dismissal was held to breach EqA s.15 even though medical evidence that it was related to the disability was not available to the employer at the time. An employer has a defence to s.15 (discrimination arising from disability) if it did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that... Read more »
The EAT has held against an employer who refused to adjust a multiple choice recruitment test for a candidate for Asperger syndrome. In Government Legal Service v Brookes the claimant with Asperger’s argued that the multiple choice format of a ‘situational judgment test’ put her at a disadvantage, and requested to be allowed to give... Read more »
The EAT upheld a decision that on the facts there was no discrimination arising from disability (s.15 EqA) where a claimant who had been absent for a cancer operation was made redundant. In Charlesworth v Dransfields Engineering Services (bailii.org) there was held not to be sufficient connection between the employee being made redundant and his... Read more »
In a borderline decision, the Court of Appeal upheld an employment tribunal decision that a school was not justified under the Equality Act in dismissing a teacher who had been off for about 17 months. However, this decision in O’Brien v Bolton St Catherine’s Academy (bailii.org) turned both on the particular facts, and on an... Read more »
The Court of Appeal has given a fairly wide interpretation of who can be liable for whistleblowing as an ’employer’. Whistleblowing protection includes workers, not just employees, but also ‘workers’ is given a wider meaning than normal for the purpose of the whistleblowing legislation. The Court of Appeal had to interpret this extended definition of... Read more »
We have added a new ‘Good practice guide’ to the site. Good practice guides are meant as general guidance for practitioners to help them comply with the law and good practice, rather than explaining the law itself which is covered elsewhere on this site. The new guide is on fitness to attend capability and disciplinary... Read more »
The EAT rejected a claim that covert surveillance of an employee claiming reasonable adjustments for dyslexia was harassment or victimisation. The claimant was employed as a lawyer in employment tribunal claims, and alleged that being eventually told about the covert surveillance had significant effects on his mental health. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Peninsula... Read more »
In Essop, the Supreme Court restored what was previously understood to be the law on indirect discrimination. The claimant need not establish the reason for the relevant disadvantage. Controversially, in 2015 the Court of Appeal had held that a claimant for indirect discrimination must show why the provision, criterion or practice (PCP) disadvantages the relevant... Read more »
The government has now published its ‘Great Repeal Bill’ White Paper setting out proposals to incorporate EU law into UK law, but with Parliament free to amend it after the UK leaves the EU. The UK currently remains a member of the EU. The Government’s new Great Repeal Bill: White Paper (link to gov.uk) sets... Read more »
