Disability discrimination meaning

In this issue: Employment contract Horizon scanning Pensions Tax Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Data protection and employee information Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract Supreme Court reinstates High Court injunction preventing Tesco from ‘firing and rehiring’ employees on less favourable terms. In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, the Supreme Court, unanimously and led by Lord Burrows and Lady Simler, upheld the High Court’s stance, reviving the injunction that bars Tesco from dismissing staff in order to strip them of a ‘permanent’ contractual entitlement to retained pay, then proposing re‑engagement without it. An implied term in the contracts curtailed Tesco’s ability to rely on dismissal rights for that end. Commentary on the ruling is provided by Neil Todd of Thompsons Solicitors; Jonathan Chamberlain and Connie Cliff of Gowling WLG; Philip Harman...

In this issue: Horizon scanning Status and worker categories Cross-border, international and jurisdictional issues Benefits Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) TUPE and asset purchases Bribery, modern slavery, tax evasion and fraud Employment Tribunals Immigration IRLR Highlights—January 2025 Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment Highlights 2024/2025 Horizon scanning Employment Law—looking back at 2024 and ahead to 2025: The Lexis+® Employment team provide a concise overview of the standout employment law changes across 2024 and signpost what to watch in 2025, including movement on the Employment Rights Bill, the forthcoming employer duty to prevent sexual harassment, the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, plus other impending legislation and significant cases. See News Analysis: Employment Law—looking back at 2024 and ahead to 2025. Status and worker categories MoD loses application to rehear army reservists pension bias case: In Milroy v...

In this edition: Employment contract Pay Protected characteristics Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Prohibited conduct protection at work Equality of terms (equal pay) Employment Appeal Tribunal Governance and regulatory Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract UKSC upholds claimants’ appeal and restores injunction in Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ case In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, Tesco moved to end employees’ contracts to remove their ‘retained pay’—a contractual financial entitlement accepted as permanent—and to offer re-engagement on new terms excluding that pay. Working with the union, USDAW, several employees obtained a High Court injunction restraining Tesco from dismissing them in order to take away the retained pay entitlement. The Court of Appeal, however, allowed Tesco’s appeal against that order. The Supreme Court has since backed the claimants’ appeal and...

This Practice Note outlines the legal and practical considerations relevant to digital rights management (DRM), and examines how far technical tools and other safeguards can be deployed by rights holders to protect and administer their digital works lawfully and effectively in practice. It also sets out the categories of offences that may arise where technological protection measures are bypassed or where rights management information is abused in any context. What is digital rights management? DRM describes the technical mechanisms used by copyright owners of digital material to label, monitor and secure their assets. These controls are applied to block unauthorised copying, for instance by using encryption, ensuring that only approved software and permitted users can open a given digital file where appropriate. DRM also serves to identify content and to manage its distribution to consumers, eg by tracking how often a work is accessed for the purpose of calculating the royalties payable lawfully, or to support business models such as online music subscription services. For example, the video...

This Practice Note outlines the matters an employer must weigh up when obtaining medical assessment reports for their staff and prospective recruits...

This Practice Note outlines the available resources concerning safeguards and liabilities arising from acts or failures to act that constitute sexual orientation discrimination, or other forms of prohibited conduct linked to sexual orientation. The detail here is intentionally limited, as the principal aim is to point subscribers towards comprehensive materials contained in additional Practice Notes that explore each element in depth. Consequently, treat this Practice Note as an entry point for research; full coverage is provided only in the places signposted below. Its role is to point you forward, not to replace the comprehensive Practice Notes that address each strand of the topic at length, and the links below are where complete information is intended to be consulted and used. The characteristics protected The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) affords protection against discrimination and other prohibited conduct connected to particular listed characteristics a person may have. Some protections apply solely to one such characteristic. Others operate uniformly across all of them, which together are described as ‘the protected...

1 Policy statement The Company is committed to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). By this we mean: equality: delivering fair treatment and equal opportunity for all employees, workers and job applicants, and eradicating unlawful discrimination; diversity: acknowledging, respecting and valuing the differences in our people’s protected characteristics, backgrounds, skills and experience, and encouraging gender, age and ethnic diversity, alongside diverse physical ability and neurodiversity across our workforce; inclusion: creating a fair, safe workplace for everyone that values difference and enables each person to be themselves, reach their potential and thrive at work. The Company will not unlawfully discriminate against any employee, worker or job applicant on the basis of any protected characteristic recognised by current legislation, namely: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage or civil partnership status; pregnancy and maternity; race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin); religion or belief; sex; or sexual orientation...

Insert in para 8.2 of claim form ET1: The Claimant served with the Respondent as a [ insert job title, eg ‘paralegal and then as a trainee solicitor’ ] commencing on [ insert start date of employment, eg 6 September 2021 ] and continuing until [ his OR her OR their dismissal on [ insert date, eg 31 March 2024 ] ]. The Respondent is [ insert brief description of the nature of the Respondent, eg ‘an international law firm’ ]... [ The Claimant alleges that the Respondent subjected [ her OR him OR them ] to [ a course of ] discrimination, harassment and victimisation, which encompassed [ his OR her OR their ] discriminatory and unfair dismissal. ]... Disability The Claimant lives with [ insert details, eg ‘clinical depression and severe dyslexia’ ] and was, throughout the relevant period, a disabled person [ owing to each of these impairments ] for the purposes of section 6(1) of the...

Part A Statement of facts I live with diabetes and long-term depression. I am profoundly dyslexic. I have worked for the company as a sales executive since [ insert date ]... In [ insert date ], my diabetes worsened and, following a period of absence, my employer referred me to an occupational health consultant... On [ insert date ], I met with my manager, Mr A, and a human resources adviser, Mr B. They said my level of absence was unacceptable. They showed me the consultant’s report by Dr C. Dr C stated it was unsafe for me to continue undertaking driving duties. Mr A said I could not remain in my sales executive role... I noted that the report also indicated my condition should improve as I responded to an adjustment in the management of my diabetes, after which I would be able to resume driving duties... Mr A said the company could not wait and that I would need to consider...

Disability discrimination Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) and EqA 2010, Sch 1, Pt 1, a diagnosis of cancer is treated, without further proof, as a disability for EqA 2010 purposes. See Practice Note: Disability. Attention must be given to the various forms of discrimination and other banned conduct contained in EqA 2010, as set out within that legislation and provisions therein. See the part of Practice Note: Disability discrimination headed ‘The basic types of discrimination and other prohibited conduct’, together with the fuller Practice Notes cited there and cross-referred within that section. For EqA 2010 purposes, a ‘dismissal’ also covers situations where an employee’s employment ends (and is not immediately renewed on identical terms) because a particular period has run out, or a particular event has happened, or a particular circumstance has arisen; this includes the ending of fixed-term contracts (EqA 2010, s 39(7)–(8)). Accordingly, the requirement to make reasonable adjustments binds employers when they are considering dismissing an employee; that is, dismissal will...