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Legal update

By Kelly Mansfield (March 2008 Issue)
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Win for carer could lead to new discrimination rights

A British carer who claims she was “harassed” into resigning from her job because she has a disabled son has won the initial stages of a landmark legal case at the European Court of Justice.

The advocate general said that Sharon Coleman had suffered “discrimination by association”, and this could lead to millions of carers having new rights.

Coleman claims she was forced to leave her job at Attridge Law in March 2005 because she was not allowed as much flexibility as other employees with children.

She also claims she was called “lazy” for trying to take time off to look after her son, and was accused of using his condition to get out of work.

Coleman accepted voluntary redundancy but began a claim for constructive dismissal five months later. The employment tribunal hearing the case decided to refer it to the European court for a ruling on whether EU discrimination laws covering disabled people can also apply to people not themselves disabled, but closely associated with a disabled person.

The formal ‘opinion’ is not the last step in Coleman’s fight, however; now a full panel of European judges will take the advocate-general’s view into consideration before delivering the final ruling later this year.

Decision on agency workers

In a landmark judgment, the Court of Appeal has ruled that agency workers do not have the same rights as staff employed directly by an organisation.

The case, James vs London Borough of Greenwich, was brought by Merana James, who claimed she was entitled to the same rights as other workers because she had been at the council for several years and was treated “like any other employee”.

But the council argued that, as an agency worker, James had no contract with it, and any working arrangements would be between her and her agency.

The Court of Appeal agreed that James could not assume she had a direct contract with the council, regardless of her length of service.

Last year, a tribunal put all similar cases on hold pending the outcome of this case which is hoped to provide a clarification of the law.

Bill seeks tougher health and safety punishments

A new bill seeking increased penalties for health and safety offences has received a second unopposed reading in the House of Commons.

Keith Hill, Labour MP for Streatham, told the Commons that last year there were nearly 250 work-related deaths in Britain, with around 30,000 workers suffering major injuries. His Health and Safety (Offences) Bill would result in higher maximum fines.

Hill proposed raising the maximum fine in magistrates’ courts to £20,000 “for most offences”. He said that, at present, magistrates were only able to impose that amount for offences that breached ‘general duties’ to safeguard health and safety.

Mr Hill said the current maximum fine for ‘specific’ breaches stood at only £5,000, “yet such breaches may be just as serious as breaches of general duties”.

They include:

  • breaches of fundamental requirements to do a risk assessment;
  • a breach of asbestos regulations; or
  • a breach of industry-specific requirements, such as construction, design and management regulations.

He added that the bill would provide “tougher, more commensurate punishment, more effective deterrents and greater efficiency in the dispensation of justice”.

Kelly Mansfield is editor of Workplace Law. To find out more about any of these stories visit www.workplacelaw.net/news/news

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