Though not a binding precedent, an employment tribunal has held that a former member of the armed forces can claim for disability discrimination occurring after discharge, subject to the normal rules on post-employment discrimination. Normally, Sch 9 para 4 of the Equality Act excludes the armed forces from the EqA employment provisions as regards disability... Read more »
A doctor who believed on the basis of the Bible that it is not possible to change sex/gender and was not willing to use preferred pronouns has failed in a discrimination claim. In Mackereth v DWP (bailii.org) the EAT held the doctor had a protected belief under the Equality Act, but on the facts there... Read more »
The EAT has held that in considering the justification defence under s.15 Equality Act, it is the outcome of the decision-making process – for example dismissal – that must be justified rather than the process itself. However this does not mean the employer’s procedure is irrelevant. In Department of Work and Pensions v Boyers (gov.uk)... Read more »
A further education college was investigated by the HSE after the death of a staff member from Covid-19 in December 2020. In a letter dated April 2022, the HSE said it considered that the death did not have to be reported under RIDDOR. However the college had failed to take all reasonably practicable measures to... Read more »
In summer 2022 we had what may be the first employment tribunal decision on how far Long Covid is a disability within the Equality Act. The case is Burke v Turning Point www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/mr-t-burke-v-turning-point-scotland-4112457-slash-2021 . The tribunal held the claimant did have a disability, but each case will depend on its facts. More: Covid-19>’Long Covid’ as... Read more »
The Court of Appeal in Pimlico Plumbers said a genuine unfettered right to substitute someone else to do the work is inconsistent with being a ‘worker’. However an EAT has now suggested that the Supreme Court decision in Uber may have changed that. Giving an individual, particularly in the gig economy, a contractual right to... Read more »
The EAT has upheld a tribunal decision that a dismissal due to long-term sickness absence was justified even though the employer had failed to make a reasonable adjustment of extending time to appeal against the dismissal, since she would still have been dismissed. The tribunal had found the internal appeal would not have altered the... Read more »
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld a tribunal decision that on the facts the claimant did not have a reasonable belief that there were serious and imminent circumstances of danger preventing him from returning to work His claim for unfair dismissal under s.100(1)(d) Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) therefore failed. The EAT said the... Read more »
The Court of Appeal has held that no claim can be brought in respect of psychiatric injury caused by a separate horrific event removed in time from the original negligence, accident or a first horrific event Family members who witnessed the traumatic death of a family member who had been negligently misdiagnosed some time before... Read more »
The Supreme Court decision in Various Claimants v Barclays (when is an employer vicariously liability for acts of an OH practitioner?) has been considered by the Court of Appeal in a case on dentists. The Court of Appeal case concerned whether the owner of a dental practice was vicariously liable for alleged negligence of (self-employed)... Read more »
