Equality, diversity and human rights

New and updated

• Date:

  1 May 1986

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discriminatory retirement age

  In Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (26.2.86) EOR7E, the European Court of Justice rules that compulsory retirement of men and women at different ages contravenes the EEC Equal Treatment Directive.

• Date:

  10 September 1985

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Workforce pressure led to discrimination

  The Court of Appeal in R v Commission for Racial Equality (ex parte Westminster City Council) upholds the High Court's finding that employers are guilty of discriminatory conduct if they give into workforce pressure which is itself based on discrimination.

• Date:

  7 August 1984

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Ban on part-timers unjustified

  In The Home Office v Holmes, the EAT holds that a ban on part-time work can amount to unlawful sex discrimination.

• Date:

  10 May 1983

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Sikhs covered by Race Relations Act

  In upholding a Sikh's complaint of indirect discrimination under the education provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976, the House of Lords in Mandla and another v Lee and others adopts a broad interpretation of the definition of ethnic origins.

• Date:

  31 December 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Ahmad v UK

  In Ahmad v UK [1982] 4 EHRR 126 ECHR, the European Commission of Human Rights held that a local authority's refusal to allow Mr Ahmad time off work on Fridays to attend prayers at a mosque did not infringe his freedom of religion or his right to enjoy rights and freedoms without discrimination.

• Date:

  1 December 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Owen & Briggs v James

  In Owen & Briggs v James [1982] IRLR 502 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the Industrial Tribunal and the EAT had not erred in concluding that the appellants had acted in breach of the Race Relations Act by refusing or deliberately omitting to offer the respondent employment in that they had, on racial grounds, treated her less favourably than they had treated or would have treated other persons.

• Date:

  1 July 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Din v Carrington Viyella Ltd (Jersey Kapwood Ltd)

  In Din v Carrington Viyella Ltd (Jersey Kapwood Ltd) [1982] IRLR 281 EAT, the EAT held that the employer's conscious motive for taking a particular course of action, whilst it may be relevant, is not the decisive factor when considering whether racial discrimination has taken place.

• Date:

  6 October 1981

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Standard uniform requirement discriminating against Sikhs held justifiable

  In Kingston & Richmond Area Health Authority v Kaur, the EAT has ruled that a requirement by a health authority that enrolled nurses wear a standard uniform which could not be varied is "justifiable" within the meaning of s.1(1)(b)(ii) of the Race Relations Act and that in applying such a requirement to a Sikh woman, whose religion requires her to wear trousers, the employers had not unlawfully indirectly discriminated against her.

• Date:

  1 January 1981

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Page v Freight Hire (Tank Haulage) Ltd

  In Page v Freight Hire (Tank Haulage) Ltd [1981] IRLR 13 EAT, the EAT held that the employer was protected by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, section 51(1) because refusing to allow the employee to transport dimethyl formamide was necessary to comply with the employer's duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was not an act of excessive caution.

• Date:

  1 February 1980

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Panesar v The Nestle Co Ltd

  In Panesar v The Nestle Co Ltd [1980] IRLR 64 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the respondents' rule forbidding beards in their chocolate factory was "justifiable" within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1976, section 1(1)(b).