The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal that, where there are multiple respondents and particular loss cannot be attributed to one party, employment tribunals must award compensation on a joint and several liability basis, meaning that the claimant can claim the entire amount from any respondent.
This is a rare example, along with Crisp v Iceland Foods Ltd ET/1604478/11 & ET/1600000/12, of an employment tribunal making wide-ranging recommendations to an employer, in this case suggesting that it provide training for its managers and HR team on maternity rights.
Georgina Kyriacou and David Malamatenios are partners and Sandra Martins, Colin Makin and Krishna Santra are associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
The European Court of Justice has held that an employer is not obliged to provide an unsuccessful job applicant with information on the successful candidate, although a failure to do so could lead to an inference of discrimination in a subsequent tribunal claim.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that, in ascertaining whether or not words that reference a protected characteristic constitute unlawful discrimination, the conduct complained of must be seen in context.
The employment tribunal in this case took the unusual step of upholding complaints of direct sex discrimination and sexual harassment in relation to events that had occurred up to three years out of time.
The tribunal's reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in this case could result in women who have a child through a surrogate mother being entitled to the same employment protection under EU law as conventional mothers.
Chris McAvoy, Sarah Wade, David Rintoul, Helen Corbett and Kristin Aarvik are associate solicitors at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
This Northern Ireland industrial tribunal decision is a good example of how an employer can indirectly discriminate against a female job applicant by making it a requirement to have a number of years' relevant experience within a narrow time frame, something that is more difficult for women who have been raising a family to achieve.
This employment tribunal has awarded a former NHS doctor one of the largest ever discrimination payouts after she was subjected to a sustained campaign of sex and race discrimination. The tribunal found the NHS trust and three senior managers, one of whom was the HR director, jointly and severally liable for compensation.