It has been reported that draft legislation has been passed by a committee of the European Parliament, which extends maternity leave across Europe from 14 weeks to 20 weeks on full pay. In the UK women get 52 weeks statutory maternity leave (26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 Additional... read more

Under the current sexual orientation regulations, religious organisations can restrict employment “for the purposes of an organised religion” to those of a particular sexuality (usually heterosexual) to comply with religious doctrine or to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious... read more

The employment appeal tribunal (EAT) has upheld an employment tribunal’s decision that an individual's belief in man-made climate change and the existence of a moral duty to live in a way that mitigates or avoids it, was capable of being a "philosophical belief" for the purposes of... read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has issued its judgment on the case of Coleman v Attridge regarding the issue of associative discrimination. The EAT has upheld the tribunal's decision to reinterpret the Disability Discrimination Act to prevent discrimination and harassment on the grounds of... read more

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the EHRC) are looking into the situation which arose at Milton Keynes Hospital in Buckinghamshire. It is reported that a mother about to undergo a caesarean section objected to an ethnic minority member of staff being present at the birth of her child.... read more

The Government has launched a further consultation on draft regulations to implement the EU Agency Workers Directive into domestic law.  The Government is said to be 'committed' to implementing the legislation by the end of this Parliament with a view to the law coming into force in... read more

A recent Employment Tribunal decision (in Thomas v Arts Council of Wales, Cardiff 17.06.09, ET1604301/08) usefully illustrates the difficulties an employer can get itself into when it requires a female employee to return to work full-time after maternity leave.  Unless it is... read more

The Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published the results of its Finance Sector Inquiry.  The report reveals a startling 80% gender pay gap in the finance sector and is based on data from a questionnaire sent to 50 companies, who collectively employ 22.6 per cent of... read more

The Government recently published “Unleashing Aspiration: the final report of the panel on fair access to the professions”.  The report concludes that the professions are becoming increasingly elitist.  The report is not limited to professions such as law and medicine but includes... read more

According to news reports, civil servants have sent out thousands of bogus job applications to businesses in an effort to expose race discrimination in the recruitment process. The fake job application scheme was devised by the Department of Work and Pensions, the ministry responsible for... read more