The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the employer was justified in deciding who would be chosen for voluntary redundancy on the basis of who would cost the least to make redundant, despite this criterion being indirectly discriminatory against a particular group of older workers.
The tribunal's reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in this case could result in women who have a child through a surrogate mother being entitled to the same employment protection under EU law as conventional mothers.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the employment tribunal was entitled to find that a gay barrister was discriminated against when he discovered a memorandum that made derogatory comments about his sexual orientation.
Chris McAvoy, Sarah Wade, David Rintoul, Helen Corbett and Kristin Aarvik are associate solicitors at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.
In this case, the employment tribunal awarded an NHS worker, who was dismissed from his senior position in the NHS, close to £1m for race discrimination, despite the tribunal's refusal to increase the award for future loss of earnings on the basis of the worker's argument that he might have been promoted before he retired.
This Northern Ireland industrial tribunal decision is a good example of how an employer can indirectly discriminate against a female job applicant by making it a requirement to have a number of years' relevant experience within a narrow time frame, something that is more difficult for women who have been raising a family to achieve.