David Malamatenios is a partner, Linda Quinn and Krishna Santra senior associates and Melissa Powys-Rodrigues and Dominic Speedie associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
In Bull and another v Hall and another [2013] UKSC 73 SC, the Supreme Court held that Christian hotel owners directly discriminated against a same-sex couple who were civil partners when they refused them a double-bedded room in accordance with their policy of letting such rooms to married couples only.
The European Court of Justice found that an Italian law that excluded a female worker from a vocational training course, which was necessary for a chance at a promotion, because she was on compulsory maternity leave constituted unfavourable treatment contrary to EU law.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that it was not direct sex discrimination or pregnancy and maternity discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 for an employer eventually to dismiss an employee who was on long-term sick leave for post-natal depression that continued long after her maternity leave had ended.
This employment tribunal had the unusual task of considering whether or not a manager harassed a black pub worker when he told him that he "looked like a pimp" when he was wearing a promotional St Patrick's Day hat.
In DLA Piper's case of the week, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) examined the dividing line between the innocent expression of an employee's religion at work and the inappropriate manifestation of religious beliefs in the workplace that justifies a misconduct charge.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the fact that a claimant had worked under an illegal contract did not prevent her from claiming sex discrimination.