In Lord Chancellor and another v McCloud and others; Ministry of Justice v Mostyn and others; Secretary of State for the Home Department and others v Sargeant and others, the Court of Appeal held that the Government's view that "it felt right" to protect older workers with transitional provisions when making changes to pensions for judges and firefighters was insufficient to defend direct age discrimination claims.
The Supreme Court has overturned the Court of Appeal's decision and held that civil partners and same-sex spouses are entitled to pension benefits accrued before the introduction of civil partnerships on 5 December 2005.
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 Court of Appeal has held that there could be no remedy for part-time female workers who were prevented from joining an occupational pension scheme during particular periods because they would not have chosen to join the pension scheme even if they had been eligible to do so.
A recent decision of the European Court of Justice may result in the UK having to amend its sexual orientation laws in relation to pensions. Although the main points at issue in the case are already covered by legislation in the UK, the application of the Barber temporal restriction may have an impact on public sector schemes.
In Bloxham v Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer [2007] ET/2205086/06, an employment tribunal has held that changes to a law firm's pension scheme that discriminated on the grounds of age were justified.
In Allonby v Accrington & Rossendale College and others, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules that a lecturer employed through an agency could not claim equal pay with lecturers employed directly by the college, but she could claim entitlement to join the lecturers' statutory pension scheme even though it was open only to those with a contract of employment.
In Martin and others v South Bank University [2004] IRLR 74 ECJ, the European Court of Justice held that early retirement benefits should be paid for by a new employer after a transfer of undertakings.