Equality, diversity and human rights
The Court of Appeal has held that the employment tribunal was wrong to assess compensation for a banker who was unfairly dismissed and suffered race discrimination on the basis that he would be unlikely to find an equivalent job again.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has considered the circumstances in which the terms and conditions of employees derive from the "same source" as their comparators for the purposes of the Equal Pay Act 1970.
In Martin v Devonshires Solicitors EAT/0086/10, the EAT held that, where an employer dismisses an employee in response to his or her protected act, the employer may not have unlawfully victimised the employee where the reason for the dismissal was some feature of the protected act that can be treated as separable.
Joanne Magill, associate, and Claire Benson and Ceri Hughes, managing associates, at Addleshaw Goddard detail the latest rulings.
The High Court has held that art.6 of the European Convention on Human Rights was not engaged in internal disciplinary proceedings where the employee was not, as a result, deprived of the right to practise his profession.
This case shows that some incidents of harassment are so serious that the correct approach is for the employer to contact the police, rather than use its own internal harassment investigation procedure.
This case is a good example of inappropriate workplace behaviour that is tolerated by employers, but which constitutes unlawful discrimination.
An employee claiming discrimination must first prove facts from which the tribunal could conclude, in the absence of an adequate explanation, that discrimination took place, as this case demonstrates.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that compromise agreements preventing employees from bringing equal pay claims against a council are valid, even though the employees had been advised by solicitors engaged by the council.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that a paid volunteer is not an employee for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 where there is no mutuality of obligation between the parties.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to equality, diversity and human rights.