An employer is permitted to indirectly discriminate on the basis of one of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010, only if doing so is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.
In the recent case of Heskett v Secretary of State for Justice, Mr. Heskett, a Probation Officer, was subject to indirect discrimination on the basis of his age. A pay progression policy was changed so that it would take him 23 years instead of 8 years to reach the top pay available for his role, essentially because his employer needed to save money. As one of the younger employees this disadvantaged him.
Typically the courts have held that saving or avoiding cost cannot, on its own, justify indirect discrimination. However, this case is interesting because the Court of Appeal held that an employer’s need to reduce expenditure, including staff costs, in response to financial constraints can amount to justification. Of course the line between the mere saving of cost and the aims upheld as legitimate in this case could be very thin in some situations and the decision should mean that policies which might disadvantage younger or older members of the workforce are easier to defend.
At Waterfront, our specialist employment & HR lawyers advise on settlement agreements every week but for our employee clients, signing such an agreement can be a once-in-a-lifetime event. If you have been offered a settlement agreement or you are finding the process confusing or daunting, we are here to help. What…
In times of economic turmoil, redundancies are seldom far away. Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, unease in the financial markets resulting from political uncertainty and the continuing legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies are making cutbacks and having to find efficiencies in order to survive. Indeed, the last few weeks have seen news headlines about mass-layoffs at Twitter, the Independent and Royal Mail.
As of 26 October 2023, The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 has completed its journey through both Houses of Parliament and has now received Royal Assent. This piece of legislation…
The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023, creates a statutory right for qualifying workers to request a more predictable pattern of work. This right works similarly in a few ways to the right to request a more flexible working pattern.