Equality, diversity and human rights

New and updated

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Sexual orientation discrimination: Christian B&B owners' refusal of double-bedded room for civil partners not justified

  The Supreme Court has held that the owners of a bed and breakfast, whose religious beliefs include that sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage are sinful, could not justify their refusal to give civil partners a room with a double bed, in this important discrimination case on the conflict between sexual orientation laws and the right to manifest religious beliefs.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Colin Makin, Krishna Santra, Linda Quinn and Sandra Martins are senior associates and Melissa Powys-Rodrigues is an associate at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Race discrimination: line manager repeatedly likened Irish worker to "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" characters

  This successful race discrimination claim by an Irish worker is a prime example of why employers are unlikely to be able to argue in an employment tribunal that offensive comments about a protected characteristic were "just banter".

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Religion or belief discrimination: "Wiccan" mocked and later dismissed after Halloween shift changes

  A "Wiccan" who claimed that she was mocked and later dismissed after switching her shifts to celebrate All Hallows' Eve has won a religion or belief discrimination claim, in what may be the first successful case of its kind in UK employment law.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Race discrimination: £7,000 for Polish worker criticised by colleague for speaking her native language

  This Polish claimant was awarded £7,000 after being criticised by a colleague for speaking her native language in the workplace, in a good example of the language issues that can arise in a multinational workplace.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Disability discrimination: refusal to allocate parking space was a failure to make reasonable adjustments

  The EAT has held that an employer's failure to allocate a parking space to a disabled employee amounted to a failure to make a reasonable adjustment.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Age discrimination against job applicant not appointed to role of pizza chef

  This case serves as a reminder of the importance of having a recruitment policy and procedure in place that is not discriminatory and properly implemented and followed and of recording each stage of the recruitment process.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  James Buckle, Gerri Hurst, Joelle Parkinson, Chris McAvoy and Helen Samuel are associate solicitors at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Disability discrimination: failure to record recruitment process leads to tribunal drawing adverse inferences

  It is perfectly possible for there to be very little direct evidence of discrimination in a recruitment process, but for an employee to win a tribunal claim because the employer's failure to keep a clear record leads to inconsistencies in its defence, as this disability discrimination case shows.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Race discrimination: carefully recorded recruitment process helps employer to defend tribunal claim

  Employers that operate a transparent and carefully recorded recruitment process have little to fear if they find themselves in an employment tribunal, as this race discrimination case shows.