We round up three recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgments about discrimination. The ECJ has recently considered: temporary incapacity caused by a workplace accident in Barcelona; the recruitment age limit for Basque police officers; and survivors' pensions for same-sex partners in Ireland.
In this well-publicised case, easyJet's refusal to limit the shift lengths of two cabin crew who were breastfeeding led to awards for indirect sex discrimination totalling almost £35,000.
In Kratzer v R+V Allgemeine Versicherung AG [2016] IRLR 888 ECJ, the ECJ held that a job applicant who is not genuinely seeking employment but whose sole purpose is to seek compensation for alleged discrimination with regard to his or her application is not protected by EU discrimination law.
This employment tribunal held that a bus company's decision to dismiss a disabled employee amounted to discrimination arising from disability. The justification defence failed because the tribunal found that there were a number of other options available that would have amounted to a less discriminatory means of achieving a safe place of work.
Gender pay and equal pay are frequently confused. However, there are key differences between the two and employers need to be aware of their obligations in relation to both.