Equality, diversity and human rights
Niki Walker, managing associate at Addleshaw Goddard, details the latest rulings.
In City of Edinburgh Council v Dickson EATS/0038/09, the EAT upheld the employment tribunal's decision that an employee whose employer failed properly to consider his explanation that he had behaved out of character during a hypoglycaemic episode was unfairly dismissed. However, the tribunal's conclusion that the employer's rejection of that explanation amounted to direct and disability-related discrimination was wrong in law and was overturned.
In Kücükdeveci v Swedex GmbH & Co KG [2010] IRLR 346 ECJ, the ECJ held that German law that excludes employment below the age of 25 when calculating minimum statutory notice periods based on length of service amounts to unjustified age discrimination contrary to the Equal Treatment Framework Directive.
In Eweida v British Airways Plc [2010] IRLR 322 CA, the Court of Appeal held that a uniform policy that prevented the wearing of a visible item of adornment around the neck did not give rise to indirect discrimination against a Christian employee who wished to display a cross as a matter of personal preference, rather than as a mandatory religious requirement.
Richard Ryan, associate, Helen Ward, associate, and Tori O'Neil, trainee solicitor, Addleshaw Goddard, detail the latest rulings.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an employment tribunal that held that an employee had been discriminated against on the ground of sexual orientation had failed properly to take into account, among other facts, that the employee had actively “come out” while working at a different office.
In Keane v Investigo and others EAT/0389/09, the EAT held that an experienced accountant who applied for jobs aimed at recently qualified accountants that she did not genuinely want was unable to complain of having suffered any disadvantage when she was not put forward for them.
The Court of Appeal has held that, where a claimant is alleging that separate incidents form one continuous act for the purposes of extending the normal time limit within which to bring a claim for racial discrimination, a relevant but not conclusive factor is whether the same individuals or different individuals were involved in the separate incidents.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that employees, who successfully claim discrimination, are entitled to be compensated for any injury to health or injury to feelings caused by the act complained of, even if they were unaware that the act complained of was discriminatory.
In Wolf v Stadt Frankfurt Am Main [2010] IRLR 244 ECJ, the ECJ held that the German Government's restriction on recruitment as a firefighter to those aged 30 or under does not give rise to age discrimination because it constitutes a proportionate "genuine and determining occupational requirement" in pursuit of a legitimate aim, within the meaning of art.4(1) of the Equal Treatment Framework Directive.
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