January

Lockheed pays $2.5m to settle race claim

The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced a major settlement of a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest military contractor, for $2,5m on behalf of an African American electrician who was subjected to a racially hostile work environment at several job sites nationwide – including threats of lynching and use of the “N-word.”

Councils striving for equal pay for its workforce

New research published by the Local Government Employers has revealed that half of all councils have now undertaken equal pay reviews, but the ability of local authorities to undertake these reviews is being hampered by the ever-growing impact of no-win-no-fee lawyers seeking to litigate claims.

Extension for EHRC to comply with statutory duties

The Equality Act 2006 (Dissolution of Commissions and Consequential and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2007 has been published, extending the deadline from 1 January 2008 to 1 April 2008 for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to comply with its race, disability and gender equality statutory duties.

Youthful enthusiasm costs employers dearly

An employment tribunal in Northern Ireland has ruled that a 58 year old job applicant, Mr McCoy, had been discriminated against on grounds of his age when he was not appointed to a post as salesman with a timber firm. An important factor was that the job advert had mentioned "youthful enthusiasm" as a desirable attribute.

Mother denied flexible working wins case

Nicola Adedejia, former manager of the Barbican centre in London, has won her tribunal claim that a decision not to allow her flexible working hours to care for her children amounted to discrimination and was the reason she had been dismissed. Her claim for compensation is in excess of £100,000.

We’ll have no prejudice here

The Scottish Centre for Social Research has published the results of its investigation into Scotland's attitudes towards discrimination. Although it found that 65% of Scots wanted all forms of prejudice to be eradicated, 29% felt that "sometimes there is a good reason to be prejudiced". It also found that attitudes towards Muslims had worsened since 2003, while homophobia had declined.

Hammond v International Network Services UK Ltd

An employee’s nine separate allegations of ‘harassment’ in breach of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 were rejected by the High Court. Even if the alleged incidents had taken place, they were not serious enough to satisfy the definition of harassment under the Act, which requires the claimant to establish oppressive and unreasonable conduct.