Discrimination by Association

The European Court of Justice has just handed down their judgement in the landmark case Coleman v Attridge Law which arose from questions posed to it from London South Employment Tribunals.

The European Court of Justice following the Advocate Generals opinion in January this year, has ruled that associative discrimination is prohibited by the Equal Treatment Framework Directive.

Ms Coleman alleged that she was directly discriminated against and harassed by her former employers on grounds of the disability of her son, for whom she was the primary carer.

According to the ECJ's judgement, the Directive is intended to prohibit direct discrimination or harassment on grounds of disability, even where the person concerned is not disabled themselves. The Equal Treatment Framework Directive applies to age, sexual orientation, religion and belief, as well as disability. Following the ECJ's judgement, direct discrimination by association in those other contexts must also be prohibited. Although, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 on its wording does not yet appear to protect employees from direct discrimination by association in the context of age.

Given that the respondent in this case is a law firm and not a public body the tribunal will now need to decide whether or not the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 should be read purposively and be extended to include associative discrimination.

My own view on this matter is that this is a mere formality and employers should be prepared to update their policies and procedures in the near future to include prevention associative discrimination. Advice on this issue can be obtained from me on gda@hrlegalpartners.com

Coleman v Attridge Law