All items: Marital/civil partnership status

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  Berrisford v Woodard Schools (Midland Division) Ltd [1991] IRLR 247 EAT (1 report relating to this case)

  • Dismissal of unmarried pregnant school matron not discriminatory

    Date:

    1 July 1991

    In Berrisford v Woodard Schools (Midland Division) Ltd (6 March 1991) EOR 38E, the EAT holds that a woman was not dismissed by reason of pregnancy where it was not the fact of pregnancy as such that her employers objected to, but the adverse example it conveyed together with her unmarried status.

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  Bloomberg Financial Markets v Cumandala EAT/672/98, EAT/673/98 (1 report relating to this case)

  • Sex discrimination: Employer made no generalised assumption about job applicant's marital status

    Date:

    1 March 2000

    A married man who applied for a job in Madrid was not unlawfully discriminated against on the ground of his marital status when the employer, on hearing that he intended to commute weekly between London and Madrid, decided not to appoint him, holds the EAT in Bloomberg Financial Markets v Cumandala.

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  Byrne v Gloucestershire paper Products [1996] IT/25442/96 (1 report relating to this case)

  • "Clean living" requirement not discriminatory

    Date:

    1 December 1996

    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.

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  Cave v Ripon Cathedral Choir School Ltd [2001] ET/180505999/00 (1 report relating to this case)

  • Spouse's professional status led to discrimination

    Date:

    1 September 2001

    In Cave v Ripon Cathedral Choir School Ltd a Leeds employment tribunal (Chair: C T Grazin) holds that a woman was unlawfully discriminated against on grounds of her married status when her appointment as head of a school was revoked following pressure from parents who were concerned about the financial and professional status of her husband.

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  Chief Constable of the Bedfordshire Constabulary v Graham [2002] IRLR 239 EAT (3 reports relating to this case)

  • Derbyshire Police in the dock over high-level discrimination

    Date:

    1 September 2002

    A ruling against Derbyshire Police has clarified the rules on marriage discrimination and highlights the ways employers can fall foul of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

  • Case digest

    Date:

    1 April 2002

    Hilary Slater, consultant with Cobbetts solicitors, provides a round-up of decisions on discrimination.

  • Sex discrimination: Police chief should not have withdrawn job offer

    Date:

    28 January 2002

    In The Chief Constable of the Bedfordshire Constabulary v Graham, the EAT upholds an employment tribunal's decision that the Chief Constable discriminated indirectly against a female inspector on the grounds of her sex and marital status when he rescinded her appointment to the division commanded by her husband, a chief superintendent, on the grounds of a possible conflict of interest.

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  Cumandala v Bloomberg Financial Markets [1998] ET/2301660/97 (1 report relating to this case)

  • Assumption that married man would "lack commitment"

    Date:

    1 September 1998

    An employer which assumed that an applicant for a Madrid-based job would "lack commitment" because his wife was unwilling to relocate from the UK, unlawfully discriminated on grounds of marital status when it rejected his application, holds a London South employment tribunal (Chair: I S Lamb) in Cumandala v Bloomberg Financial Markets.

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  Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management EAT/0531/10 (2 reports relating to this case)

  Doubt was cast on this decision almost immediately by the EAT in Hawkins v Atex Group Ltd and others [2012] IRLR 807 EAT, the decision in which was handed down just after the ruling in this case.

  • Marriage discrimination: Less favourable treatment of employee on ground that she was married to a particular person amounted to discrimination

    Date:

    2 June 2012

    In Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management EAT/0531/10, the EAT held that less favourable treatment accorded to an employee on the ground that she was married to a particular person, rather than because of her marital status per se, amounted to unlawful discrimination on the ground of marriage.

  • Employee can be discriminated against because of marriage to particular person

    Date:

    6 December 2011

    The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that discrimination on the ground of "marital status" under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 can cover less favourable treatment because the individual is married to a particular person. 

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  Hale and Clunie v Wiltshire Healthcare NHS Trust [1999] ET/1401250/98 (1 report relating to this case)

  • Rotation shift system discriminated

    Date:

    1 March 1999

    The introduction of compulsory rotating shifts for all nursing staff indirectly discriminated against married people, holds a Bristol employment tribunal (Chair: C F Sara) in Hale and Clunie v Wiltshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

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  Hawkins v Atex Group Ltd and others [2012] IRLR 807 EAT (2 reports relating to this case)

  The EAT considered and robustly rejected the reasoning in Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, another case on marriage discrimination that was decided shortly before this case, and highlighted the gap in Dunn of consideration of previous authority on this issue.

  • Marriage discrimination: Dismissal because employee was in close personal relationship, which happened to be marriage, was not discrimination

    Date:

    2 June 2012

    In Hawkins v Atex Group Ltd and others EAT/0302/11, the EAT held that the dismissal of an employee because she was in a close personal relationship with a particular person, which happened to take the form of marriage, did not amount to unlawful marriage discrimination.

  • Case round-up

    Date:

    1 May 2012

    Georgina Kyriacou and David Malamatenios are partners and Sandra Martins, Colin Makin and Krishna Santra are associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.

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  Murray v Navy, Army, Air Force Institute [1997] IT/3100459/96 (2 reports relating to this case)

  • Directive does not allow claim based on family status

    Date:

    1 June 1998

    A Southampton industrial tribunal (Chair: N Jenkinson) in Murray v Navy Army Air Force Institute has ruled that the EC Equal Treatment Directive, which provides that "there shall be no discrimination whatsoever on the grounds of sex, either directly or indirectly, by reference in particular to marital or family status", does not prohibit discrimination on grounds that an applicant has a child.

  • Jurisdiction in overseas claim

    Date:

    1 December 1997

    The Sex Discrimination Act's limitation to employment "at an establishment in Great Britain" does not accord with European Community law, rules a Southampton industrial tribunal (Chair: N Jenkinson) in Murray v Navy Army & Air Forces Institute.