Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Court of Appeal hands down judgment in the long-standing case of Higgs v Farmor’s School and others, finding that the dismissal of a school counsellor for Facebook posts constituted unlawful direct discrimination on the ground of religion or belief. The Court of Appeal held that the Claimant’s dismissal was not objectively justified and accordingly constituted unlawful discrimination: “dismissal was unquestionably a disproportionate response”. Some points of interest from this key decision:

• There were five interveners in the case, signifying the continued level of interest in cases dealing with these issues.
• Following Forstater v GCD Europe, it was accepted that the Claimant’s beliefs qualified for protection under the Equality Act 2010.
• The judgment contains significant analysis of relevant legislation and authorities – focussing in particular on how to reconcile the inability to justify direct discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 with the fact that Convention rights (i.e. Art 10 – right to freedom of expression), are qualified rights which introduces a consideration of whether actions taken which limit these rights are objectively justified. The Court of Appeal held that this “blending” was jurisprudentially legitimate and therefore gave due consideration to whether the school could objectively justify the action it took against the Claimant.
• Crucially, the Court of Appeal held that whilst it was understandable that the school...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirAFBVV95cUxQZUJXblRiaW5SMTVBZTV4RmpO...