Ask an Ealing Expert

More developments in Employment Law from our Ealing expert, Louise Taft

Good Motives Irrelevant in Race Discrimination

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld a finding of Race Discrimination against Amnesty International.

They had refused to appoint a Sudanese woman to the post of Sudanese researcher, because they felt that this would appear to show that the organisation lacked impartiality.

The Tribunal held that the motive was irrelevant: her nationality and national origins were the reason why she had not been appointed, the test for Race Discrimination.

This confirms a long held principle that discrimination need not be intentional: if the result of a policy means that certain nationalities or races are treated less favourably or not selected for employment, the employer will be in breach of the Race Relations Act.

Rise in Unfair Dismissal claims

The ACAS annual report has identified a rise in Unfair Dismissal claims, which it attributes to the recession. Interestingly, the overall number of ET claims referred to ACAS has fallen by 8%.

The main rise was in the second half of 2008/09, indicating that we may have more to come. There was also a huge leap in claims for redundancy payments (an increase of 36%).

Employment Law Workshop

I will be presenting a workshop with Nigel Lack of Westminster Compliance and Rosanna Henderson of Conker Consulting on October 22nd.

The workshop is designed to help small and medium sized organisations with 3 tricky areas: personnel, health and safety and employment law, which is of course where I come in.

This full day interactive workshop costs £295 per delegate or £500 for two delegates from the same organisation. However, if you qualify for Train 2 Gain funding, you could recover the full cost, meaning you get a full day’s training for free. If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

August 31, 2009