In Chandok and another v Tirkey [2015] IRLR 195 EAT, the EAT held that discrimination on the ground of caste is capable of falling within the meaning of race discrimination in s.9(1) of the Equality Act 2010.
The employment tribunal in this case had the unusual task of deciding whether or not a female employee was sexually harassed when she witnessed her male line manager and another man re-enacting a scene from the film Ghost at an office party. While the tribunal found that this incident was not harassment under the Equality Act 2010, the employer was ordered to pay the claimant £2,000 for several other incidents that displayed her line manager's "predilection for innuendo", and to reimburse £1,200 in tribunal fees to the claimant.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld an employment tribunal decision that a requirement for older employees to accept less generous terms and conditions of employment, as a condition of their employment continuing, could be justified.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that non-payment of a discretionary bonus was unfavourable treatment for a reason arising from disability and was not justified.
A Northern Ireland tribunal has applied the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in FOA, acting on behalf of Karsten Kaltoft v Billund Kommune that obesity can by itself amount to a disability.
Carly Mather is a managing associate, Gerri Hurst and Lucy Sorrell are associates, Mona Jackson is a trainee solicitor and Richard Branson is a paralegal at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
In Hainsworth v Ministry of Defence [2014] IRLR 728 CA, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the principle of associative discrimination does not extend to an employer's duty to make reasonable adjustments.
The European Court of Justice has held that while EU law does not lay down a general principle of non-discrimination on the ground of obesity as such, the Equal Treatment Directive (2000/78/EC) must be interpreted as meaning that the obesity of a worker can constitute a disability.
In DLA Piper's latest case report, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) tackled the thorny issue of applying sickness absence criteria in redundancy selection to disabled employees at risk of redundancy.