Insights & News

Redundancy protection for pregnancy and maternity to be extended?

31 January 2019

The Government has published a consultation paper on extending protection from redundancy for women during pregnancy, women who have returned to work after maternity leave, and new parents.

Refusal to provide cake supporting gay marriage was not direct sexual orientation discrimination

11 October 2018

The Supreme Court (“SC”) has ruled that a bakery did not discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation when it refused to provide a cake for a customer bearing the words “support gay marriage”. The bakery’s refusal was based on the owner’s Christian beliefs that the only form of marriage acceptable to God was between one man and one woman.

Care workers not entitled to minimum wage for sleep-in shifts

18 July 2018

In a case of huge significance for the care sector, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) has decided that care workers carrying out “sleep-in” shifts are not entitled to the national minimum wage (“NMW”) for the whole shift, but only when they are required to be awake and working.

Brexit, #metoo and equal pay: the hidden links

09 March 2018

‘Living in the dark ages’ - pregnancy and maternity discrimination at interview

21 February 2018

Fresh out of my first year at university and applying for a summer job at a pub, I was slightly taken aback when the interviewer asked whether I had children, in a tone that implied “no” was the right answer… Back then, with no children, I simply answered the question - but it made me wonder.

Dressing to impress - discriminatory appearance codes

17 March 2017

Laura Farnsworth and Emma Langhorn have written an article for HR review on discriminatory appearance codes in the workplace.

When is a ban on headscarves at work discriminatory?

16 March 2017

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given its first ruling on the right to wear an Islamic headscarf at work, in two separate cases which both involved the dismissal of a Muslim employee for refusing to remove her headscarf in breach of the employer’s dress code.

Shared parental leave and sex discrimination

06 October 2016

The first case about the amounts paid to men and women on shared parental leave has been decided by an Employment Tribunal in Glasgow.