Back at the end of July we noted the decision of the Liverpool Employment Tribunal in Gerry Abrams Limited –v- EAD Solicitors LLP that a limited company could claim age discrimination. That rather surprising conclusion then went off to the Employment Appeal Tribunal which has just found in unassailably clear terms that this is correct … Continue Reading
Just when you think you have mostly got a grip on the scope of UK discrimination law, along comes a whole new avenue of legal debate. Gerry Abrams Limited -v- EAD Solicitors LLP is the first reported case of a claim for direct discrimination by a limited company. In brief, Mr Abrams was a member … Continue Reading
One of the bastions of British soap opera has seemingly become tired of your run-of-the-mill torrid affaire/grisly murder/dodgy dealings stories and for a bit of dramatic spice has turned instead to the world of employment law. While as lawyers we already know that there is little which makes more compelling viewing than a juicy discrimination … Continue Reading
So there I was, happily watching one of those television shows where journalists sit around a table and talk earnestly about football when suddenly off the conversational subs’ bench leaps a real employment law issue. The reference was made by Henry Winter (Daily Telegraph Football Correspondent), who claimed that he receives emails on a regular … Continue Reading
Layoffs and terminations bring a host of potential problems, especially when a protected class such as age is involved. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employers from discriminating against older employees in favor of younger ones. The case the Eighth Circuit was confronted with this issue on December 4, 2013 in Hilde v. … Continue Reading
So is it age discrimination to called a teenage employee a “teenager”? All a question of context, the Employment Tribunal decided in Roberts –v- Cash Zone (Camberley) Limited last month, a ruling which also sheds some side-light on the use of other potentially discriminatory terms in the workplace. Ms Roberts was 18 when dismissed by … Continue Reading
Mixed news on the discrimination front last with what should be the last knockings of Seldon v Clarkson Wright & Jakes, the age claim brought by a partner compulsorily retired from a firm of solicitors. The Employment Tribunal first ruled on this one in late 2007. In the interim it has been up to the … Continue Reading
Mr Bentley described himself as a ‘photographer and entertainer’ in the claim forms that he presented to various Employment Tribunals. However, a more accurate description of his career, according to a recent case in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, might as well be ‘serial pursuer of hopeless cases’. Mr Bentley’s modus operandi was to offer his … Continue Reading
As recently reported on the Squire Sanders’ Sixth Circuit blog, the Sixth Circuit recently clarified its jurisprudence on the “honest belief” standard. Resuscitating Plaintiff-Appellant Johnnie Brooks, [pdf] Jr.’s (“Brooks”) claim under the Age Discrimination Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., (“ADEA”) the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court, finding Brooks established a prima facie … Continue Reading
A bipartisan group of three United States Senators recently introduced legislation designed to overturn the United States Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Gross v. FBL Financial, Inc. The bill, titled the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, would amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) as well as other federal anti-discrimination laws and provide … Continue Reading
There is always a point in life when you suddenly realise that you have become your own father. You will see it coming – you begin to ask for the music to be turned down in restaurants, order the starter portion only and find the way much younger people speak increasingly irritating. I was interviewing … Continue Reading
A Partner in a law firm who was compulsorily retired at age 65 under the terms of the firm’s Partnership agreement will this week have his age discrimination complaint heard by the Supreme Court – the highest level of appeal in the United Kingdom. Seldon v Clarkson Wright & Jakes has already been through three … Continue Reading
Much squawking in the UK media hen-coop this week about proposals by the Government to introduce into the UK workplace the concept of the “protected conversation”. Put shortly, this is designed to allow employers to raise questions with employees which in the ordinary course of events would risk landing them in the Employment Tribunal. These … Continue Reading
More hot news from the Department of Cheap Political Gestures earlier this week. Under the not even remotely inflammatory headline “Old Slackers Face the Boot” the Evening Standard Evening Standard – Politics RSS feed reports somewhat vaguely on new Government proposals to help employers with the tricky issue of raising retirement with their older staff. … Continue Reading
From 6 April the UK Government has abolished the default retirement age of 65. This is good news and bad. The good news is that employers will be able to retain a fixed retirement age if they can justify it. The bad news is that this is more or less impossible. Our enquiries of our … Continue Reading
An advertisement for a well-known pizza brand running on UK television at the moment leads the employment lawyer in us all (me, anyway) to consider the potential pitfalls of “look-ism” for employers. Dealing with that advert, to start. For the uninitiated, it starts with a slow-pan shot of a group of unnaturally good-looking and fearsomely … Continue Reading
