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Sex discrimination: Homophobic abuse not discrimination on grounds of sex

This report relates to 1 case(s)

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    Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield Secondary School [2001] IRLR 669 CA (3 other reports)

    • Lesbian has no remedy for abuse

      Date:
      1 September 2001

      In Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield School (31 July 2001), the Court of Appeal rules that a female teacher who was subjected to gender-specific, homophobic, verbal abuse was not unlawfully discriminated against on grounds of sex.

    • Human rights remedy for homophobic harassment?

      Date:
      1 September 2001

      In Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield School the Court of Appeal has held that a lesbian teacher who was subjected to gender-specific homophobic verbal abuse by pupils was not unlawfully discriminated against on grounds of sex because she was not treated less favourably than a male teacher subjected to homophobic abuse would have been treated.

    • No retrospective cause of action under human rights provisions for lesbian schoolteacher

      Date:
      15 August 2001

      According to the Court of Appeal, the teacher, who was subjected to homophobic taunts and harassment by pupils that did not, at the time they occurred, amount to less favourable treatment on the grounds of her sex under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 ("the SDA"), could not rely on provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights ("the Convention"), as scheduled to the Human Rights Act 1998 ("the HRA"), to claim retrospective compensation.

In Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield School 31.07.01, the Court of Appeal holds that in determining whether a lesbian teacher has been discriminated against on grounds of sex, the correct comparator to use is a male homosexual teacher.