Tag archives: discrimination

Philosophical and religious beliefs: Balancing the issues

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on July 20, 2022 Posted in General, UK

Two recent employment cases regarding “gender critical” beliefs have highlighted the difficulties in this area and whether such beliefs are capable of protection under the Equality Act 2010. Religion or belief is one of the nine protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010. The Act prohibits direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in … Continue reading

Calling a man “bald” can amount to harassment related to sex

By Safwan Afridi on June 8, 2022 Posted in General, UK

The Employment Tribunal (ET) has found that an employee that was called “a bald ****” by a fellow male colleague was harassed based on his sex. The Claimant presented a number of other claims against the Respondent, including unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, victimisation and health and safety detriments; however, this post focuses on the Claimant’s … Continue reading

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Failing to address misgendering in the workplace can be a costly lesson

By Chanelle Wong on October 12, 2021 Posted in Canada, North America

A British Columbia case has affirmed that the correct use of gender pronouns is a basic right, and that when it comes to inclusivity in the workplace, it is not enough to talk the talk by having a policy in place – employers must walk the walk by taking prompt action to address concerns. Failure … Continue reading

Speculation in Human Rights Claims – A Recent Decision

By Herb Isherwood on September 7, 2021 Posted in Canada, Discrimination and harassment, North America

One of the challenging circumstances often facing an employer is having to make a tough decision (e.g. termination) with respect to an employee who is known to have a protected characteristic under human rights law. Whether the employee is elderly, has a disability, is gay, or has another protected characteristic, the concern is that the … Continue reading

“Stale” and “ineffective” training is insufficient to establish the reasonable steps defence

By Joanna MacKenzie on February 22, 2021 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK

A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Allay (UK) Limited v Mr S Gehlen provides useful guidance to employers seeking to rely on the “reasonable steps” defence to a claim of discrimination, harassment or victimisation. An employer can be liable for acts of discrimination, harassment and victimisation carried out by its employees … Continue reading

Preparing to return to the workplace – what should employers be doing?

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on May 12, 2020 Posted in Coronavirus, UK

As the UK Government has published the Plan to Rebuild – the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy to transition England from lockdown, one of the key areas is how to get people back to the workplace safely. The Government has also published guidance covering eight workplace settings which are allowed to be open, intended to … Continue reading

UK Pensions – Could ethical veganism impact on future pension fund investments?

By Lesley Harrold on January 29, 2020 Posted in Europe, UK

UK Pensions – Could ethical veganism impact on future pension fund investments? January 2020 In an employment tribunal preliminary hearing on 3 January 2020, Judge Robin Postle ruled that ethical veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be a philosophical belief, with the result that it was protected under the Equality Act 2010. For … Continue reading

Ethical Veganism is a Protected Characteristic

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on January 13, 2020 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK

An employment tribunal in the UK has held that ethical veganism is a protected characteristic under UK discrimination law. In the UK an employee is protected from discrimination in the workplace under one of the nine protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. This includes protection in respect of religion, religious belief and … Continue reading

Right to work in the UK and requests for evidence

By Lauren Pullen-Stanley (UK) on November 20, 2019 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK, Uncategorized

A recent UK case considered whether an employer acted reasonably in requiring an employee, who was not a national of the European Economic Area (EEA), married to an EEA national, to produce documentation to show his right to work in the UK. In the UK: 1) it is illegal to for an employer in the … Continue reading

Good Work Plan: Government issues further response and consultation to support families and pregnant women

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on August 9, 2019 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK

As part of its Good Work Plan, the UK Government has recently published a response and a consultation paper on proposals which will protect and support families and pregnant women. The first Government paper considers extending redundancy protection for women and new parents. The second consultation looks at various proposals to support families, including a … Continue reading

Ethnicity pay gap reporting in the UK

By Claire Darbourne (UK) on April 30, 2019 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, UK

As reported in an earlier post, the UK Government introduced mandatory gender pay gap reporting in 2017. An independent review conducted in 2017, Race in the workplace, made a number of recommendations for removing the barriers to workplace progression faced by ethnic minorities including the introduction of mandatory reporting of ethnicity pay data. At that … Continue reading

BC Court of Appeal affirms BC approach to “family status” discrimination cases

By Jennifer Lang-Hodge on March 8, 2019 Posted in Canada

The British Columbia Court of Appeal (the “BCCA”) recently issued an important decision about family status discrimination. In Envirocon Environmental Services, ULC v. Suen (“Envirocon”), a unanimous BCCA affirmed the existing legal test for adverse discrimination on the ground of family status under the BC Human Rights Code (the “Code”). For BC employers, this is a welcome … Continue reading

Religious discrimination claim – whose religion?

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on February 19, 2019 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that where an employer (or individuals on behalf of the employer) acts because of their own religion or belief, this may not lead to an employee bringing a successful claim for direct discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. The EAT upheld the employer’s appeal, overturning the Employment … Continue reading

Direct Discrimination – how far can this go?

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on October 12, 2018 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, UK

The recent case of Lee v Ashers Baking Company Limited and Others has hit the headlines in looking at what amounts to direct discrimination in terms of the provision of services to individuals. What effect does this case have on discrimination in the employment field? The case involved a family owned bakery, whose owners strict … Continue reading