Equality, diversity and human rights

New and updated

• Date:

  1 June 1988

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Equal pay: Comparison of overall remuneration rejected

  In Hayward v Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Limited, the House of Lords rules that a successful equal pay claimant is entitled to have each distinct term in her contract of employment modified so that it is no less favourable than the corresponding term In her comparator's contract.

• Date:

  31 March 1987

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Discriminatory job evaluation schemes

  In RummIer v Dato-Druck GmbH, the European Court of Justice rules that a job evaluation scheme which falls to take into account criteria for which workers of each sex may show particular aptitude may be in breach of EEC sex discrimination law.

• Date:

  1 August 1986

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Bilka-Kaufhaus GmbH v Weber von Hartz

  In Bilka-Kaufhaus GmbH v Weber von Hartz [1986] IRLR 317 ECJ, the European Court of Justice held that the exclusion of part-time workers from occupational pension schemes contravenes Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome if this exclusion affects significantly more women than men, unless the employer can show that the exclusion is based on objectively justified factors unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex.

• Date:

  1 May 1986

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discriminatory retirement age

  In Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (26.2.86) EOR7E, the European Court of Justice rules that compulsory retirement of men and women at different ages contravenes the EEC Equal Treatment Directive.

• Date:

  10 September 1985

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Workforce pressure led to discrimination

  The Court of Appeal in R v Commission for Racial Equality (ex parte Westminster City Council) upholds the High Court's finding that employers are guilty of discriminatory conduct if they give into workforce pressure which is itself based on discrimination.

• Date:

  7 August 1984

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Ban on part-timers unjustified

  In The Home Office v Holmes, the EAT holds that a ban on part-time work can amount to unlawful sex discrimination.

• Date:

  10 May 1983

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Sikhs covered by Race Relations Act

  In upholding a Sikh's complaint of indirect discrimination under the education provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976, the House of Lords in Mandla and another v Lee and others adopts a broad interpretation of the definition of ethnic origins.

• Date:

  31 December 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Ahmad v UK

  In Ahmad v UK [1982] 4 EHRR 126 ECHR, the European Commission of Human Rights held that a local authority's refusal to allow Mr Ahmad time off work on Fridays to attend prayers at a mosque did not infringe his freedom of religion or his right to enjoy rights and freedoms without discrimination.

• Date:

  1 December 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Owen & Briggs v James

  In Owen & Briggs v James [1982] IRLR 502 CA, the Court of Appeal held that the Industrial Tribunal and the EAT had not erred in concluding that the appellants had acted in breach of the Race Relations Act by refusing or deliberately omitting to offer the respondent employment in that they had, on racial grounds, treated her less favourably than they had treated or would have treated other persons.

• Date:

  1 July 1982

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Din v Carrington Viyella Ltd (Jersey Kapwood Ltd)

  In Din v Carrington Viyella Ltd (Jersey Kapwood Ltd) [1982] IRLR 281 EAT, the EAT held that the employer's conscious motive for taking a particular course of action, whilst it may be relevant, is not the decisive factor when considering whether racial discrimination has taken place.