Equality, diversity and human rights
The concept of direct discrimination under the Race Relations Act requires it to be shown that the claimant has been treated by the person against whom the discrimination is alleged less favourably than that person treats or would have treated another, the House of Lords rules in Zafar v Glasgow City Council.
In Stedman v UK [1997] 23 EHRR 168 ECHR, the European Commission of Human Rights held that the dismissal of a woman for refusing on religious grounds to accept a new contract that would have required her to work Sundays was not an interference with her freedom of religion or other rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In Poulton v Walton [1998] ET/1805515/97, the employment tribunal found that an employee with diabetes controlled by diet was disabled. Diet was a 'measure' taken to treat the diabetes so the effect of following the diet had to be ignored in considering whether he was disabled. He was not discriminated against in respect of his disability since the dismissal was not for a reason related to his disability.
The Scottish and the English constitute separate racial groups for the purposes of the Race Relations Act, defined by reference to their "national origins", rules the EAT in Northern Joint Police Board v Power.
An employer did not act in fundamental breach of an employee's contract of employment when it required him to retire at the age of 55, in accordance with its retirement policy aimed at achieving a younger workforce, even though the contract incorporated an equal opportunities policy containing an express commitment to offer equal opportunities regardless of age, rules the EAT in Secretary of State for Scotland v Taylor.
A "requirement or condition" applied by an employer does not have to constitute an absolute bar in order for it to be challenged as amounting to indirect sex discrimination, holds the EAT in Falkirk Council and others v Whyte and others.
In Halford v United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights holds that the Merseyside Police Authority violated the right to privacy of its assistant chief constable under the European Convention on Human Rights when it tapped her office telephone calls for the purposes of gathering information in order to defend a sex discrimination complaint she had initiated.
In Gillespie and others v Northern Health and Social Services Board and others (No.2) and Todd v Eastern Health and Social Services Board and another, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal rules that contractual maternity pay is adequate in terms of European Community equal pay law, and does not "jeopardise the purpose of maternity leave", if it is at least equivalent to statutory sickness benefit.
In Barry v Midland Bank plc, the EAT holds that a woman bank employee was not indirectly discriminated against on the ground of her sex when the bank calculated her severance pay by reference to her part-time salary at the time of termination, notwithstanding that she had been employed full time for the first 11 years of her 13 years' service.
In R v Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Seymour-Smith and Perez (13 March 1997) EOR73A, the House of Lords refers questions to the European Court of Justice relating to whether the increase in the qualifying period for bringing a complaint of unfair dismissal from one to two years indirectly discriminated against women contrary to European Community law.
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