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Human rights
In R (on the application of Kirk) v Middlesbrough Council and another [2010] IRLR 699 HC, the High Court held that a social worker accused of withholding information about a child protection investigation, of which she was the subject, from her private sector employer was not entitled to legal representation at a disciplinary hearing.
In Ladele v London Borough of Islington [2009] EWCA Civ 1357 CA, the Court of Appeal held that a registrar with strong Christian beliefs about marriage who was threatened with dismissal for refusing to carry out civil partnership work did not suffer unlawful religious discrimination.
In Kulkarni v Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Trust and Secretary of State for Health [2009] IRLR 829 CA, the Court of Appeal held that NHS doctors subject to disciplinary proceedings are entitled to be represented at any disciplinary hearing by a qualified lawyer instructed by their medical protection organisation.
In London Borough of Islington v Ladele EAT/0453/08, the EAT overturned the employment tribunal decision that a Christian registrar who was disciplined for refusing to undertake civil partnership duties was subjected to religious discrimination.
In Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) v United Kingdom [2007] IRLR 361, a case of competing rights of association under art. 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, a trade union's right to expel a member of the BNP because his values conflicted fundamentally with its own outweighed the individual's right to membership of the union.
Judith Harris of Addleshaw Goddard brings you a comprehensive update on the latest decisions that could affect your organisation, and provides advice on what to do about them.
In X v Y [2004] IRLR 625 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the applicant had been fairly dismissed from his job working with youth offenders after he had been cautioned for gross indecency with another man in a public toilet and failed to disclose the fact that he had committed a criminal offence to his employers.
The overwhelming majority of discrimination law cases are unsuccessful. If the decision is not one of an employment tribunal, it will be a binding precedent.
In Pay v Lancashire Probation Service, the EAT holds that a probation officer with specific responsibility for sex offenders, who was publicly engaged in sadomasochistic activities in his spare time, did not have his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights breached when he was dismissed upon discovery of those activities.
In Wilson and others v the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights holds that, whereas the absence under UK domestic law of compulsory collective bargaining did not, in itself, give rise to a violation of article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, preventing employees from exercising their right to have their trade union protect their interests rendered that right illusory.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to human rights.