Equality, diversity and human rights

New and updated

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Disability discrimination: Expectation to work long hours was a PCP

  In United First Partners Research v Nicolas Carreras, the Court of Appeal held that a pattern of repeated requests that an employee work in the evenings, which created a pressure on him to agree, was capable of amounting to a "provision, criterion or practice" (PCP) under the Equality Act 2010.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Pregnancy discrimination: Decision to dismiss made before knowledge of pregnancy

  In Really Easy Car Credit Ltd v Thompson, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) allowed the appeal and held that the employer was not obliged to revisit its decision to dismiss when it became aware that the employee was pregnant.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Gender reassignment discrimination: Tribunal recommends that employer adopt transgender policy

  In de Souza E Souza v Primark Stores Ltd, the employment tribunal awarded £47,433 to a transgender employee who suffered harassment and recommended that the employer adopt a written policy on how to deal with new and existing staff who are transgender or who wish to undergo gender reassignment.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Pregnant workers can be included in collective redundancies, holds ECJ

  In Guisado v Bankia SA and others, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that there is nothing in EU law to prevent a pregnant worker from being included in collective redundancies.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Instigating disciplinary procedure was start of continuing act

  In Hale v Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the decision to instigate the disciplinary procedure was not a one-off act, but the start of a state of affairs that would continue until the conclusion of the disciplinary process.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Court of Appeal rules on constructive knowledge of disability

  In Donelien v Liberata UK Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that the employer did not have constructive knowledge of the employee's disability and that it had done all it could "reasonably be expected to have done" to find out about the nature of the employee's health problems.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Disability discrimination: £110,165 award for absence dismissal

  In Carrabyne v Department for Work and Pensions, the employment tribunal awarded £110,165 to a disabled claimant who was dismissed while on a final written attendance warning following an absence unrelated to her disabilities.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Human rights: Covert CCTV surveillance of Spanish shop workers violated right to privacy

  In López Ribalda and others v Spain, the European Court of Human Rights held that Spanish shop workers' right to privacy was violated when a supermarket installed hidden cameras without their knowledge to monitor employee thefts.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Human rights: CCTV surveillance in classes violated lecturers' right to privacy

  In Antovic and another v Montenegro, the European Court of Human Rights held that overt camera surveillance in a university's lecture halls violated professors' right to privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  £1,000 award for disabled shop worker over delay in providing £3 lift key

  In Mitchell v Marks and Spencer plc, the employment tribunal awarded £1,000 to a disabled shop worker following a delay in providing him with a lift key to allow him to reach the toilets more easily.