Dorothy Perkins Ltd v Dance: 1977

The court considered the difficulties in categorising and comparing employments: ‘Having then identified the parties, having then acquainted themselves with the nature of the contractual employment, the next thing that has to be done is to look at the position in very broad general terms. The old saying that it is sometimes difficult to see the wood because of the trees is particularly applicable in this type of investigation . . look at the wood . . if it sees one tree which is outstandingly different from the rest . . see whether or not . . [they] . . are doing something which may be significantly different.’

Judges:

Kilner Brown J

Citations:

[1977] IRLR 226

Statutes:

Equal Pay Act 1970

Cited by:

CitedMatthews and others v Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority and others CA 2-Jul-2004
Part time retained firefighters claimed discrimination under the Regulations when their conditions of service were compared with those of full-time firefighters. They appealed a finding that they had been employed under different types of contract . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.198545