Discrimination News

Employment barristers Karen Moss and Grace Boorer presented today's employment law webinar on disability discrimination. You can view the webinar below. Karen gave an updated overview of liability under Section 15 Equality Act 2010 including the most recent authorities. She focused on how tribunals approach a claim of discrimination arising from disability encompassing: Requisite knowledge under s.15 cf. failure to make reasonable adjustments, considering Baldeh v Churches Housing Association of Dudley and District and Tesco...

3PB Barristers have created a dedicated webpage on its website to act as a hub for the many articles, briefings and webinar and podcast recordings about lockdown laws and regulations as well as practical issues like court attendance, e-bundles, remote and hybrid hearings. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to create employment, contractual and other legal challenges which are in many ways unprecedented. The impact of the virus is being felt, and in response, 3PB have...

3PB’s employment and discrimination barrister Simon Tibbitts was instructed by law firm Clarks Legal LLP to represent the claimant, a hugely successful IT sales executive, before the London Central employment tribunal in a final hearing lasting over 6 days in December 2019. The claimant, Nadine Lee, brought several claims against her ex-employer Splunk Services UK, which is part of a US multinational technology company based in San Francisco. Splunk were represented by Jane Mulcahy QC...

3PB barristers Naomi Webber and Katherine Anderson​ bring you another chance to see this webinar - first broadcast on 9 July 2020 - in which Katherine and Naomi discuss Religion and Belief in the Workplace, the issues arising and the implications of relevant case law.  

Two former paratroopers brought claims of victimisation, direct race discrimination and harassment against the MOD. 3PB’s employment barrister Simon Tibbitts represented the MOD throughout. The victimisation claims were all struck out at a preliminary hearing in April 2019 with the direct race discrimination and racial harassment claims proceeding to be heard over 10 days in Central London ET in July 2019. The trial (final hearing) attracted widespread media attention and the Judgment, which has recently...

Music teacher Lesley Brazel, supported by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) and their legal expenses insurers ARAG, turned to Nottinghamshire law firm Hopkins Solicitors LLP and counsel Lachlan Wilson and Mathew Gullick from 3PB to bring her holiday pay claim discrimination case to court. For more details click here .

Simon Tibbitts has just finished a 10 day hearing in London Central Employment Tribunal that has received widespread media attention. The trial has been reported in the Telegraph, Guardian, BBC News and the Independent amongst others. Simon appeared on behalf of the Ministry of Defence defending claims of racial harassment and discrimination brought by two former paratroopers. Judgment is reserved but a link to an article from the Independent can be found here. Click here...

3 Paper Buildings (3PB) Employment and Discrimination barrister Mark Green, instructed by Anna Illingworth of solicitors Rowberry Morris, successfully represented 88-year-old secretary Eileen Jolly in suing the NHS for age and disability discrimination after she was dismissed, despite the surgeon she worked for disagreeing with the decision, stating she was ‘meticulous and reliable'. Mrs Jolly, who is believed to be the oldest person ever to sue an employer for age discrimination - after taking the...

3PB Barristers employment & discrimination law specialist Matthew Curtis has just appeared in two disability discrimination cases at the EAT this last fortnight. Appearing before HHJ Eady Q.C. on both occasions, Matthew first represented a Respondent appealing on procedural irregularity and perversity grounds, then represented a Claimant on a pro bono basis under the ELAAS scheme. Matthew is a highly-ranked employment barrister, regularly appearing in Employment tribunals on multi-day cases across the UK, and is...

Race discrimination - 'Coconut' - Joseph England considers recent analysis of comparators and striking out

23rd January 2018

In Walters v Avanta Enterprise Limited [2017] UKEAT 0127_17_2112 (December 2017), Slade J in the Employment Appeal Tribunal considered a case in which the Claimant argued that being labelled a ‘coconut’ (i.e. being black on the outside, white on the inside) demonstrated a racially discriminatory motivation but her claim was struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success. The case examines how to correctly construct a comparator and also repeats the trite warning against...

Following the Welsh Rugby Union's scrapping of the so called ‘Gatland’s Law’ with the result that a number of star players possibly missing out on future international fixtures, including the 2019 Rugby World Cup, 3PB employment barrister Sarah Clarke and Royds Withy King commercial partner Chris Kane examine if the Welsh Rugby Union new selection policy amounts to indirect age discrimination. To read their analysis, please click here.

Joseph England appeared last week in an interesting case under the Equality Act 2010 heard in the County Court in which a traveller was seeking an injunction and damages from a pub and its landlady after he was refused service. Relying on his race as a traveller, the Claimant alleges that he was refused service because of his race and that this was an act of harassment, whereas the Defendants contend that their belief was...