News Archive 

A Deputy Chief constable of a police authority in Scotland applied for promotion with another force; he was not selected for interview although he was well qualified. He found out that all the applicants that were shortlisted were Scottish and were not necessarily better qualified. He felt that he was not given the opportunity due to his ethnic background, which was English.

The police denied racial discrimination and argued that the legislation did not apply to English and Scottish people. The question was settled at an employment tribunal and was found to be unlawful as stated in the 1976 Race Relations Act. In the end an out of court settlement was made to the constable and the police authorities effectiveness on equal opportunities recruitment procedures was looked into.

Beyond a joke

An employee of a company in Yorkshire experienced racial remarks and jokes now and again. The employee ignored the jibes but then he started to get abused on a regular basis, after six weeks he made a complaint. He was happy to solve the problem internally.

The manager told about the complaint did not take the colleagues complaint seriously and therefore made the situation worse as he went about things in a very informal manner. The employee ended up leaving the company in a traumatised state. The case was taken to an employment tribunal on the grounds of racial discrimination, which is Pakistani.

The key factor in all this was if the employer suffered a psychiatric illness as a result of the abuse and the way it was handled by his manager. The company argued that the employer already had the illness beforehand, however it was decided that if it had not been down to the racial abuse, it was likely the employer would have continued working up until his retirement age. The company was ordered to pay a six figure sum and gave out a message to companies of the effect racial harassment can have on people and the damages that may be payable will be great.

Holiday Spirit

A woman was invited for a job interview as a receptionist at a company in Manchester, when she arrived home after the interview the company called her asking if she was Jewish.

She had said yes she was Jewish so the company wanted to know if she planned to take all the Jewish holiday, she explained that she would only take one Jewish holiday as leave.

After 4 days of waiting to hear if she had got the job she called the company who explained that she didn't get the job but a successful candidate who had 'different circumstances' got the job. This message was also confirmed in writing.

The woman felt that she has been discriminated against due to her race, before the case was heard at an employment tribunal the company settled out of court with a four figure sum.

Testing Times

A casual worker for a number of years working for a public sector in Lancashire was asked to take a written aptitude test in order to remain in employment. The employee failed the test but found out that a number of white workers were given temporary or permanent contracts without having to take the test.

The case was taken to an employment tribunal and they found no evidence of an equal opportunities policy being implemented on a day to day basis. They stated they were concerned about how Asian employees are treated and how discrimination complaints were not dealt with in the correct manner. They concluded that the management had not provided a satisfactory explanation for dismissing the woman, which led to her being discriminated on the grounds of her race.

The tribunal concluded that the woman suffered distress due to her dismissal and the fact that the employer had patently refused to investigate the complaint, and no apology was received. The woman was paid a five figure sum in damages.

Face didn't fit A full time cashier working for a petrol station run by a multinational firm was told that 9 members of staff would be transferred to the new employer as it had been sold to another company.

One day the cashier and other colleagues were not given any work to do but the new boss had employed two new members of staff. One member of staff came in and saw someone else doing her job so she went home. A meeting was set up to discuss the matter, but the employer told them he could not afford to pay them, eventually he agreed to pay some of the wage and went home. Two of the original staff found work elsewhere.

The woman contacted the petrol station the following day and was told to come into work the next day, but 5 of the original staff was not contacted, they felt they had been mistreated. When she returned to work she found that the new boss had employed two new members of staff who were Asian. The woman thought it was unacceptable to replace the original white staff with Asian staff and she was eventually asked to leave.

The petrol station could not justify why they got rid of the white staff and replaced them with Asian workers and members of their family. An employment tribunal ruled she has been racially discriminated against and was paid a four figure sum for compensation.

The law lords ruled that the woman who is not being named but we will call Miss A was unlawfully discriminated against in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act.

West Yorkshire Police had argued that there are some duties that Miss A would not be able to carry out, for example body searches.

Lord Bingham said that under European Law, transsexuals were entitled to the same protection against discrimination. Lords Steyn, Rdger and Carswell and Baroness Hale all agreed in dismissing the police appeal.

Miss A is entitled to compensation due to the discrimination dating back to September 1999 when an employment tribunal found in her favour.

Miss A has undergone surgery in 1996 and has no outward characteristics of a male. She successfully completed a police assessment course but her application to join the force was rejected in 1998. The force stated that a blanket ban on transsexuals was in place due to difficult situations such as body searches could not be carried out, therefore could not fully operate in the job.

In 1999 an employment tribunal upheld Miss A's grievance of sexual discrimination, ruling that is she was accepted as a woman 'nobody would be any the wiser'.

Case closed
In 1999 the employment Tribunal found although it was discrimination, it was not unlawful because the woman was legally a male and could not carry out body searches on women.

The court of appeal held that Miss A's willingness to reveal her transsexuality to colleagues or members of the public whom she had to liase with destroyed the chief constable's defence that she would be unable to comply with rules governing body searches.

The Gender Recognition Bill, which becomes law this summer will finally directly put right the law West Yorkshire Police was forced by, when Miss A applied to join in 1997.

West Yorkshire Police remains committed to equal opportunities for all potential employees.

An employee at Derbyshire County Council has received compensation for racial discrimination at work.

The unnamed woman was told by her manager that she must ask for permission if she could speak in Punjabi before speaking it. The county council admitted unlawful race discrimination and paid out an undisclosed amount of compensation.

A council spokesperson said this was a remote incident and fell short of the common standard of good practice.

Equal opportunities
The woman works in the social services department and helps organise care for the elderly. A lot of the clients the woman helps are Asian and their carers speak Punjabi as their first language, but when the woman spoke in Punjabi she was told to ask for permission first.

With the help of Unison the woman took her case to the industrial tribunal for discrimination.

Derbyshire County Council said that they did not agree with the way Unison handled the matter but where very sorry for any distress caused to the woman, the council remains committed to equal opportunities.

A Muslim worker was sacked after he went to Mecca has won his case for unfair dismissal on the grounds of religious belief.

Mohammed Khan used his annual leave and unpaid leave from his job cleaning buses to spend 6 weeks in the holy city last winter.

Mr Khan was awarded £10,000 compensation but may receive less as the employer is in administration. He asked for the leave twice and believed it had been approved.

Mr Khan worked for NIC Hygiene for 7 years but was dismissed in March 2004 for gross misconduct.

Lack of response
Because Mr Khan had not received a response for his annual leave, Unison advised he should put it in writing. Mr Khan had not heard anything so assumed everything was alright.

Mr Kahn's lawyer said the company had been found to have unfairly dismissed her client and to have breached the Employment Equality (Religion of belief) Regulations 2003.

A black solider was awarded £171,000 compensation for being a victim of racial discrimination and harassment.

Staff Sgt David Howard was subjected to name calling, ostracised at functions and found racist emails about himself and his family.

He was medically discharged due to depression and agoraphobia from his harassment and discrimination after serving 20 years in the army, and took them to an employment tribunal.

He was given a nickname of Bubba after the black character out of Forrest Gump and subjected to name calling. One day he was sitting at his boss's desk and discovered a spoof application form supposedly filled in by himself containing comments about his wife, who is white.

Zero tolerance
The Army has a zero tolerance policy on racial harassment. Regrettably, in an organisation the size of the Army there will be isolated incidents. The Army are carefully reviewing the outcome and will make any necessary changes to their policies.

A female BA pilot who claimed sex discrimination in a dispute over working hours has won her case.

Jessica Starmer said she was denied a request to work 50% part time so she could look after her one year old daughter.

BA strongly denied the complaint arguing it was a health and safety issue because Ms Starmer had not completed the required amount of flying hours.

Jessica now currently works part time on a 75% contract. British Airways has consistently said that the decision not to allow her to cut her working hours in half, to an average of just eight days a month, until she completes the required amount of flying hours was based on safety not sex discrimination.

'Flexible working'
Caroline Slowcock, chief executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said: "This case means that companies will have to seriously consider requests from employees who want to change their hours.

"Those organisation that want to keep the best people need to find ways to help men and women balance work and home life."

Jim McAuslan, general secretary of The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), said: "We welcome the tribunal's decision and hope that it will encourage more airlines to introduce better part time and flexible working arrangements for all flight crew."

More than 1,000 women take legal action every year claiming they were sacked simply for being pregnant, figures show. Other pregnant workers face demotion, hostility, pay cuts or are forced to work in unsafe conditions, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) added.

'Tip of the iceberg'
In its report, "Tip of the Iceberg" the EOC calls for government action to deter discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. Among the proposals put forward to resolve pregnancy discrimination were:

• A written statement of rights and responsibilities be given to every pregnant woman and her employer
• A practical toolkit for employers to clarify the "complicated jigsaw" of existing law
• Extending the three-month time limit for filing pregnancy-related tribunal claims as many women find it difficult to cope with the process near childbirth
• A national family strategy to deliver a coherent framework of parental employment rights and services

One in four of the 1,200 pregnant women polled by Usdaw said they were made to feel "marginalised", while a similar number said they were not given a suitable uniform to wear.

'I collapsed'
One shop worker from Nottingham told the union that she had been forced to lift trays of meat, fish and cheese - the latter as heavy as 20kg - while working on a deli counter.

"I had no risk assessment. My manager never asked me how I was coping. I collapsed at work and was admitted to hospital twice," she told the survey.

The union also found that many women were refused time off for antenatal appointments, or were forced to work back their time.

Furthermore, 20% of women who returned to the same employer after maternity leave went back to a lower grade or level of job, Usdaw found.

Unlawful discrimination cases - whether concerning race, disability or sex - cost business more than £4m in settlements last year.

Awards, which averaged £11,000, also showed an upward trend, it said. The Equal Opportunities Review also found that half of the sex discrimination cases involved pregnancy or childcare.

"Where we found good practice, Usdaw will be working with employers to help encourage its spread, but equally we're already approaching retail employers to ask them to work with Usdaw to tackle the many problems highlighted by this research".