A v Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police and Another: CA 5 Nov 2002

The appellant had undergone a male to female sex change, but was refused employment by the respondent before the Human Rights Act came into effect.
Held: Although the Human Rights Act could not apply, the act was in breach of the Equal Treatment Directive and discrimination. The 1999 regulations were incompatible with the provisions of the Directive. The respondent said that it was a requirement of the job that an officer be ready to search a person of the same sex, under the 1984 Act. Following Goodwin, it was no longer permissible to treat the applicant other than as a female. It is now necessary to apply the law as developed by the European convention jurisprudence. It was necessary to decide first what is ‘the appellant’s legal gender’. There had been gender reassignment surgery and the Court concluded that the appellant had become female.

Judges:

Kennedy, Buxton, Keene LJJ

Citations:

Times 14-Nov-2002, Gazette 09-Jan-2003, [2002] EWCA Civ 1584, [2003] ICR 161

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Equal Treatment Directive (76/207/EEC) (OJ 1976 L39/40), Sex Discrimination Act 1975 Part II, Sex Discrimination (Gender Re-Assignment) Regulations 1999 (1999 No 1102), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 54

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedGoodwin v The United Kingdom ECHR 11-Jul-2002
The claimant was a post operative male to female trans-sexual. She claimed that her human rights were infringed when she was still treated as a man for National Insurance contributions purposes, where she continued to make payments after the age at . .
Appealed toA v West Yorkshire Police HL 6-May-2004
The claimant was a male to female trans-sexual who had been refused employment as a police officer by the respondent, who had said that the staturory requirement for males to search males and for females to search females would be impossible to . .
Appeal fromThe Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police v A, Secretary of State for Education EAT 2-Oct-2001
The Force appealed findings of sex discrimination against the respondent who had undergone gender reassignment. She required the fact of the procedure to be kept secret. The force refused her application for appointment since they said she would be . .

Cited by:

CitedCroft v Royal Mail Group Plc (formerly Consignia Group plc) CA 18-Jul-2003
The employee was a transsexual, awaiting completion of surgical transformation to a woman. The employer said she could not use the female toilet facilities, but was offered use of the unisex disabled facilities.
Held: The 1975 Act provides for . .
Appeal fromA v West Yorkshire Police HL 6-May-2004
The claimant was a male to female trans-sexual who had been refused employment as a police officer by the respondent, who had said that the staturory requirement for males to search males and for females to search females would be impossible to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Police, Employment, European, Human Rights

Updated: 20 November 2022; Ref: scu.178099