Council to appeal High Court ruling that stroke unit reconfiguration was lawful – Law Society Gazette

Posted April 1st, 2020 in appeals, equality, health, hospitals, local government, news by sally

‘Medway Council has lodged an appeal against a High Court decision which found that a joint committee of clinical commissioning groups had acted lawfully when dealing with health inequalities when they decided the locations of three hyper acute stroke units (HASUs) in Kent.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 31st March 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Privately educated lawyers dominate corporate work – Legal Futures

‘The proportion of solicitors who attended state schools is creeping upwards, but those who went to fee-paying schools dominate corporate work, according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).’

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Legal Futures, 31st March 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Divisional Court to consider application for suspension of ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Divisional Court will this week (3 April) consider whether to suspend the Home Office’s ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) policy.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 30th March 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Met to face judicial review over role of school police officers – The Guardian

‘A London family has launched legal action over the role of police officers in schools, amid concerns that their presence could have disproportionately negative consequences for black and minority ethnic groups.’

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The Guardian, 30th March 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Maya Forstater case and so-called ‘gender critical’ feminism: what was actually decided and what does it reveal about UK discrimination law? – Oxford Human Rights Hub

‘In Forstater v CGD (2019), a think tank did not renew its contract for consultancy services with the claimant, Maya Forstater, allegedly because of Forstater expressing so-called ‘gender critical’ beliefs. Forstater claimed that she had suffered direct discrimination for having a protected belief under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010. In a preliminary decision, the employment tribunal considered whether the claimant’s belief was indeed protected. Tayler J identified the core of the claimant’s belief to be that sex is biologically immutable and, in no circumstances, is a trans woman ‘a woman’ or a trans man ‘a man’, even when the person in question has a Gender Recognition Certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (paragraph [77]). Due to the belief’s ‘no circumstances’ aspect, the judge labelled it ‘absolutist’ ([84]).’

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Oxford Human Rights Hub, 22nd March 2020

Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

Can a one-off decision amount to a PCP? Generally not, unless it can be shown that the decision, act or omission relied upon would be the same in a similar situation, says the Court of Appeal in Ishola v Transport for London [2020] EWCA Civ 112 – 3PB

‘Mr Ishola was employed by the respondent (TfL) as a customer services administrator. He was at all material times a disabled person suffering with depression and migraines. He raised a grievance about the conduct of a colleague in April 2015 which was not upheld, shortly after which he went on long-term sick leave. The sickness absence was managed by the respondent through a process of referrals to occupational health doctors and management review meetings. Ms Bhaimia was appointed as the “People Management Adviser” (or PMA) responsible for dealing with the claimant. The task of managing his absence on sick leave was given to Mr Walters.’

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3PB, 2nd March 2020

Source: www.3pb.co.uk

Coronavirus: Union To Sue Government Over ‘Failure To Protect Precarious Workers’ – Each Other

‘The UK government is facing a legal challenge over claims it is failing to protect the wages and jobs of millions of workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.’

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Each Other, 23rd March 2020

Source: eachother.org.uk

Asda v Brierley – Old Square Chambers

Posted March 19th, 2020 in equal pay, equality, news, Supreme Court, women by sally

‘Can a group of predominantly female retail store employees compare themselves to a group of predominantly male distribution depot employees for the purposes of an equal pay claim? The Supreme Court will have the final say on this question this year, in the highly anticipated appeal in Asda Stores Ltd v Brierley and other.’

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Old Square Chambers, 12th March 2020

Source: www.oldsquare.co.uk

“Outrage” as only partners are allowed to work from home – Legal Futures

‘A union representing legal workers has expressed outrage at the “classist allocation of risk” that is seeing law firm partners work from home while other staff are forced into the office during the coronavirus pandemic.’

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Legal Futures, 18th March 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Disability Discrimination: Chief Constable of Gwent Police v Parsons and Roberts – Old Square Chambers

‘The Claimants were two police officers aged 48 and 44 who were disabled under Equality Act 2010 (EqA). Because they were also unable to carry out the normal duties of a police officer, they were both awarded “H1 certificates” by the Force Medical Officer, which among other things, gave them the right to have immediate access to their pension (which would otherwise be deferred) if they left the police force before their normal retirement age.’

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Old Square Chambers, 3rd March 2020

Source: www.oldsquare.co.uk

Equality watchdog demands suspension of use of automated facial recognition and predictive algorithms in policing – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has called for the suspension of the use of automated facial recognition (AFR) and predictive algorithms in policing in England and Wales, “until their impact has been independently scrutinised and laws are improved”.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 13th March 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

SRA: “Solicitors conceal disability for fear of harming careers” – Legal Futures

‘Many disabled solicitors have downplayed the extent of their disability because they do not trust law firms to meet their needs, research has revealed.’

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Legal Futures, 16th March 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Against Consistency as a Ground of Review – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted March 9th, 2020 in constitutional law, equality, judicial review, news by tracey

‘Equal treatment, the principle that like cases should be treated alike, occupies a paradoxically ambivalent place within moral and legal discussion of equality. In one sense, it is an essential feature of justice that similarly situated persons be afforded similar treatment and that differences in treatment be adequately justified. This principle is informed by and presupposes the moral equality of persons, without which the demand for justification of departures from consistent treatment would be unintelligible. However, in another sense, equalisation of treatment, purely for the sake of equalisation, gives rise to the now well established “levelling-down” objection: a requirement of equalisation can be satisfied either by treating people equally badly or by replicating wrongful forms of treatment, even when we are aware that the treatment in question is wrongful. The levelling-down objection indicates that equalisation for its own sake is unlikely to be intrinsically valuable, even if there may be some instrumental reasons to do so.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th March 2020

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

300 allegations of Tory Islamophobia sent to equality watchdog – The Guardian

‘A dossier of more than 300 allegations of Islamophobia in the Conservative party has been submitted to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, increasing pressure on the watchdog to launch a formal investigation.’

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The Guardian, 5th March 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

Unmarried partners still missing bereavement payments – BBC News

‘Means-tested payments of up to £10,000 are made to parents whose husband, wife or civil partner has died.’

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BBC News, 3rd March 2020

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

ICTS (UK) Ltd v Visram (2020) EWCA 202 – Old Square Chambers

‘Do the words “return to work” in a long-term disability scheme mean return to any work or the work that the employee was undertaking prior to going on long term sickness?’

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Old Square Chambers, 24th February 2020

Source: www.oldsquare.co.uk

Claimant fails in judicial review challenge over Qualified One-Way Costs-Shifting and discrimination claims – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court judge has rejected a judicial review challenge over an asserted decision of the Lord Chancellor not to extend Qualified One-Way Costs-Shifting (QOCS) to discrimination claims in the County Court and/or the failure to extend QOCS to such claims.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th February 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Samira Ahmed and BBC reach equal pay settlement – Daily Telegraph

‘Samira Ahmed and the BBC have reached a settlement after the presenter won her equal pay claim against the corporation.’

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Daily Telegraph, 24th February 2020

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

High Court grants permission for planning judicial review challenge over alleged Equality Act breach – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court judge has granted permission for a planning judicial review challenge in part over an alleged breach of the public sector equality duty, Landmark Chambers has reported.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 21st February 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Twitter, trans rights and the role of the police — an extended look – – UK Human Rights Blog

‘The case of R (Miller) v The College of Policing & The Chief Constable of Humberside [2020] EWHC 225 (Admin) is yet another decision arising out of an individual’s use of Twitter to share transphobic, or as they see it “gender critical”, views.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 21st February 2020

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com