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Sex discrimination and equal pay: Inadequate explanation of why condition for avoiding dismissal was objectively justified

This report relates to 1 case(s)

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    Allonby v Accrington and Rossendale College [2001] IRLR 364 CA (3 other reports)

    • Contract worker can compare with employees

      Date:
      1 June 2001

      In Allonby v Accrington & Rossendale College the Court of Appeal has ruled that an employer can be liable under the Sex Discrimination Act for discriminating against a contract worker by offering her terms and conditions which are less favourable than those offered to its own employees.

    • Employer must show "real need"

      Date:
      1 June 2001

      In Allonby v Accrington & Rossendale College the Court of Appeal has held that once an employment tribunal has made a finding that a requirement or condition has a disparate impact on women, the tribunal is obliged to make a critical evaluation of whether the employers' reasons for imposing the conditions demonstrated a "real need".

    • Comparator claim to ECJ

      Date:
      1 June 2001

      In Allonby v Accrington & Rossendale College, the Court of Appeal has referred two questions on equal pay to the European Court of Justice.

An employment tribunal erred in deciding that the sexually discriminatory condition of being in salaried as opposed to hourly-paid employment to avoid dismissal was objectively justifiable, holds the Court of Appeal in Allonby v Accrington & Rossendale College and others 23.3.01. Nowhere had the tribunal sought to weigh the justification against its discriminatory effect. The tribunal had also accepted uncritically the employer's reasons for dismissing its hourly-paid workforce. Consequently, the tribunal had made no attempt to evaluate objectively whether the dismissals were reasonably necessary.