"Clean living" requirement not discriminatory

An employer did not contravene the Equal Treatment Directive when it refused to hire an unmarried woman because she lived with her boyfriend, a Bristol industrial tribunal (Chair: C F Sara) decides in Byrne v Gloucestershire Paper Products.

The employer has a "clean living" clause in its contracts of employment, which states: "Employees are expected to maintain a good moral standard of behaviour, and employees living in illicit relationships will not continue to be employed." This rule is applied equally to men and women.