04 September 2024

Transgender Discrimination

In the case of Hoffmann v Court Caribbean Law Practice, the Employment Rights Tribunal confirmed that it is not automatically unfair to dismiss an employee due to their transgender under section 30 of the Employment Rights Act 2012.

Also see the news item entitled Additional Award for Automatic Unfair Dismissal.

Please note that the Employment (Prevention of Discrimination) Act 2020 (E(PD)A) does not apply to transgender discrimination. See section 3(2) of the E(PD)A. 

Transgender Discrimination Laws in England

In England, the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 came into force on 1 May 1999. These transgender discrimination laws can now be found in the Equality Act 2010. Also, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows a transgender person to obtain legal recognition for their acquired gender - and change the recorded sex on their birth certificate from male to female or vice versa.


Disability Discrimination


See the below comments about the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill

3 comments:

Tony Trotman said...

The Government is “jumping up and down” about the Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill. However, the Employment (Prevention of Discrimination) Act 2020 already provides protection for persons with disabilities in relation to their employment. For example, under section 7 of the Act, an employer already has a legal duty to make a reasonable adjustment for a person with a disability.

Please note the definition of a disability under section 2(1) of the Act.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony

The Bill goes further than the Act. The Bill states that “Every Ministry shall employ qualified persons with disabilities”.

Tony Trotman said...

In practice, I suspect that the Bill will not go further than the Act. Because it is very unlikely that a penalty would be enforced against a Ministry – if the Ministry does not employ qualified persons with disabilities (QPD).

Also, a Ministry that does not employ persons with disabilities may claim that QPD have not applied for any vacancies within its Ministry. Or the adjustments required for the employment of QPD were not reasonable.