Employment and Trade Union Law
Over the last few days there has been a lot of comment over an Employment Tribunal’s decision that a reference to an employee’s baldness was discriminatory, some of it ill-informed. At the outset of this article, I will say I disagree with the decision that there was harassment in the case but think the case … Continue reading Bald Facts Only
When challenging a dismissal in a unfair dismissal context then the employer's handling of any appeal will be part and parcel of the consideration of whether the dismissal was fair or unfair. If an employer makes a complete pig's ear of an appeal then even if the original decision was fair the overall process will … Continue reading Appeals matter too
In a discrimination case (specifically a direct discrimination complaint) one of the defence tactics an employer can deploy is the so called bastard defence; this can be paraphrased as an admission that the employer is shit and unfair to all its staff but the defence rests on the assertion that it is equally bad to … Continue reading ‘Bastard Defence’ fails at Alpha Omega Security
In recent months I have assisted in a case in which a worker was on the brink of dismissal for absences that were entirely attributable to her experience of menopause (thankfully averted, the dismissal that is). In another a worker was subject to a misconduct allegation for an emotional and out of character outburst that … Continue reading Menopause, Disability and the Equality Act 2010.
In February I made reference to the unfortunate decision of the Court of Appeal in Royal Mail Group Ltd v Efobi [2019] IRLR 352 to overturn the Employment Appeal Tribunal's earlier interpretation of section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 that made it easier decision to establish that the burden of proof at which a … Continue reading The return of Efobi? The burden of proof in discrimination claims.
Last year the BBC ran a story on what it described as a 'landmark' case on whether veganism, or more specifically, ethical veganism was a religion or belief for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. The factual background to the case is that the Mr Casamitjana was dismissed by his employer, the League Against … Continue reading Veganism and discrimination
In the 2017 case of O'Brien v Bolton St Catherine's Academy the Court of Appeal considered the question of whether the test of whether a discriminatory dismissal under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010 was necessarily an unfair dismissal. The key issue was whether the test as to whether a dismissal was "a proportionate … Continue reading Discriminatory Dismissals and the Band of Reasonable Responses
It is only less than two months since Don Lane, a worker for courier firm DPD, died after DPD fined him £150 for having the audacity of attending a necessary hospital appointment. As a 'self-employed' worker workers like Lane have very few effectively no employment rights. For example, fining a worker for attending a disability … Continue reading Pimlico Plumbers Visit the Supreme Court
In recent weeks the Employment Appeal Tribunals judgement in Thomson v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has been published. The key issue which has been attracting comment is the endorsement of the first tier tribunal's decision that a dismissal may be unfair because of the choice of the decision maker, even when there is no … Continue reading Disability and Disciplinary Dismissals
If a person has type 2 Diabetes are they necessarily disabled under the Equality Act 2010? This was the question considered by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Metroline Travel Ltd v Stoute [2015] UKEAT 0302_14_2601. The claimant had type 2 diabetes but was not on medication for this but did control his condition by controlling … Continue reading Is Diabetes Necessarily a Disability?
Employment Writes 