The EOC contended amongst other things that section 4A(1)(a) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 did not fulfil its intended purpose, which was to transpose into English law provisions contained in the Equal Treatment Directive 2002/73/EC.
Held: The use in section 4A(1)(a) of the expression ‘on ground of her sex’ introduced a requirement of cause and effect between the woman’s sex and the objectionable conduct: whereas no such element was present in the amended Directive’s definition of harassment, which used the expression ‘unwanted conduct related to the sex of a person’. It was not possible to correct this defect by a purposive construction of the statute.
Judges:
Burton J
Citations:
[2007] EWHC 483 (Admin), [2007] IRLR 327, [2007] 2 CMLR 49, [2007] ICR 1234, [2007] ACD 74
Links:
Statutes:
Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Equal Treatment Directive 2002/73/EC
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – English v Thomas Sanderson Ltd CA 19-Dec-2008
The claimant appealed dismissal of his claim for harrassment and sex discrimination. Though heterosexual, he had been subject to persistent jokes that he was homosexual. The court first asked whether the alleged conduct was ‘on the grounds of sexual . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Discrimination, Employment
Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249965