The claimant alleged discrimination. As a teaching assistant, she had been refused permission to wear a veil when assisting a male teacher. Held: Direct discrimination had not been shown. The respondent had shown that any comparator would have also been required to remove a veil since it obscured her face and mouth and was a … Continue reading Azmi v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council: EAT 30 Mar 2007
The government operated European Schools catering for children of staff of the European Community. The school staff challenged as unlawful, the contracts restricting their terms of employment with the schools to a maximum of nine years. Held: The Secretary of State’s appeal succeeded. It was objectively justified to employ the teachers on the current fixed … Continue reading Duncombe and Others v Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families: SC 29 Mar 2011
The court considered whether a teacher employed by the Secretary of State to teach in one of its European Schools was entitled to protection against unfair dismissal. Held: The claimants’ appeals were allowed and the cases remitted to the Employment Tribunals. The employments fell within the exeptions governing employment abroad identified in Lawsn -v- Serco. … Continue reading Duncombe and Others v Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (No 2): SC 15 Jul 2011
The various insured defendants had been driven in the insured vehicles by a non-insured driver. Suffering injury at the negligence of the driver, they recovered variously damages. Their insurance companies sought recovery of the sums paid from their respective insureds under the policy terms, section 151 and under European law. Appeals and cross appeals were … Continue reading Churchill Insurance Company Ltd v Wilkinson and Others: CA 19 May 2010
EAT PART TIME WORKERSA police officer was found by the Tribunal to be significantly disadvantaged compared with his peers when carrying out examinations for promotion. Nonetheless, the Tribunal held that he was not disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 because that was not a normal day-to-day activity. In so far as … Continue reading Paterson v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: EAT 23 Jul 2007
ECJ Grand Chamber – Directive 1999/70/EC – Clauses 2, 5 and 8 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work – Directive 2000/78/EC – Article 6 – Equal treatment as regards employment and occupation – Age discrimination.A provision of German labour law excluding protection for short term contracts for those who were over 52 when they … Continue reading Mangold v Helm: ECJ 22 Nov 2005
Mrs Nolan had been employed at a US airbase. When it closed, and she was made redundant, she complained that the appellant had not consulted properly on the redundancies. The US denied that it had responsibility to consult, and now appealed. Held: The appeal failed (Lord Carnworth dissenting). That the exact situation might not have … Continue reading The United States of America v Nolan: SC 21 Oct 2015
ECJ (Order) Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure – Social policy – Directive 1999/70/EC – Clauses 3 and 8 of the framework agreement on fixed-term work – Fixed-term employment contracts in the public sector – First or single use of a contract – Obligation to state the objective reasons – Elimination – Reduction in … Continue reading Vino v Poste Italiane: ECJ 11 Nov 2010
The two applicants were serving life sentences for murder. Each sought damages for the unlawful withdrawal of their rights to vote in elections, and the failure of the British parliament to take steps to comply with the judgment. Held: The appeals failed.Lord Mance summarised the reasons for his conclusions: ‘(A) Human Rights Act In respect … Continue reading Chester, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice: SC 16 Oct 2013
The union appellant challenged the validity of the imposition of fees on those seeking to lay complaints in the Employment Tribunal system. Held: The appeal succeeded. The fees were discriminatory and restricted access to justice. The consequence of the order had been very substantially to reduce the number of cases coming before the tribunal, and: … Continue reading Unison, Regina (on The Application of) v Lord Chancellor: SC 26 Jul 2017
The claimant alleged infringement by the defendant of assorted intellectual property rights in its database. It provided systems for recovering materials deleted from Nokia mobile phones. Held: ‘the present case is concerned with a collection of numerical data . . the individual items of data are not protected by copyright. It follows that the collection … Continue reading Forensic Telecommunications Services Ltd v West Yorkshire Police and Another: ChD 9 Nov 2011
Age UK challenged the implementation by the UK of the Directive insofar as it established a default retirement age (DRA) at 65. Held: The claim failed. The decision to adopt a DRA was not a disproportionate way of giving effect to the social aim of labour market confidence. The use of a designated retirement age … Continue reading Age UK, Regina (On the Application of) v Attorney General: Admn 25 Sep 2009
The claimant telecoms companies objected to a proposed scheme for future licensing of available spectrum. The scheme anticipated a bias in favour of auctioniung such content. It was not agreed whether any challenge to the decision should be by way of appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal or by judicial review. The CAT had declined … Continue reading T-Mobile (Uk) Ltd. and Another v Office of Communications: CA 12 Dec 2008