Equality, diversity and human rights
In Morgan v Staffordshire University the EAT holds that an employment tribunal was entitled to find that an employee did not have a mental impairment within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
In Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento, the EAT upholds an appeal against an employment tribunal's manifestly excessive awards of £165,000 for future loss of earnings, and £65,000 for injury to feelings (which included £15,000 aggravated damages) to a former probationer police officer who suffered unlawful sex discrimination.
In Coker and Osamor v The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Court of Appeal holds that where an appointment is made from a close circle of family or friends, this will rarely constitute indirect discrimination as the vast majority of the relevant pool of potential candidates will be excluded. It will therefore not be possible to show that the requirement of personal knowledge has the disproportionate impact necessary to found a discrimination claim.
In Chief Constable of Avon & Somerset Constabulary v Chew, the EAT upholds an employment tribunal's decision that a female police officer who wanted to work part time suffered indirect sex discrimination because her childcare commitments meant she could not comply with a requirement that part-timers must work shifts in accordance with their department's duty roster patterns.
In Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary [2001] UKHL 29, the House of Lords allowed an appeal against a strike out of a claim for exemplary damages for the tort of misfeasance. It held that exemplary damages were not restricted to causes of action for which exemplary damages had been awarded prior to 1964. The House of Lords did not expressly decide whether exemplary damages should be available in discrimination cases.
In Scott v London Borough of Hillingdon [2001] EWCA Civ 2005 CA, the Court of Appeal held that an employment tribunal was wrong to infer knowledge of a protected act on the part of three councillors who had decided not to offer a job to the claimant, and therefore to find victimisation, since knowledge on the part of the alleged discriminator of the protected act is a pre-condition to a finding of victimisation.
In Ashton v Chief Constable of West Mercia Constabulary [2001] ICR 67 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld an employment tribunal's decision that a male to female transsexual dismissed due to poor performance had not been discriminated against on grounds of sex, although the poor performance was linked to the side effects of medical treatment for gender reassignment. It also upheld a finding that the employee was not disabled within the meaning in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The Court of Appeal holds that when an employer continued an investigation into the activities of a black female employee for longer than an ordinary investigation would have taken, for reasons connected with her ethnic origin, the employer subjected her to a "detriment" within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1976. We review the case of Garry v London Borough of Ealing.
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