Disability Discrimination in Employment

Disability Discrimination in Employment

Authors: Spencer Keen & Richard Oulton

Oxford University Press £54.95 ISBN 019923227X409 paperback, 409 pages

As a discrimination lawyer with a specific interest in disability discrimination I was keen to read this book. It is always interesting to see how the subject is explained by writers—ignorance of the Disability Discrimination Act is still far too common. I found this thorough and practical book to be a useful aid for busy employment lawyers. At over 400 pages the authors have thoroughly covered this dynamic and challenging area.

To make the best of a book like this it is important to have an accessible layout and on the first page of each chapter there is a mini index that highlights what is covered in the chapter. There are numbered paragraphs on each page which help to break up the text.

Time and thought have also gone into the index where most readers will go to locate their query in a hurry.

The book has well ordered chapters starting with the history of the Act and moving on to a breakdown of the law as you would find in the Act. It then moves on to issues such as harassment and provides helpful information on related law and shows how it may be necessary to look at other legislation to deal with a disability discrimination issue. Often books deal well with legislation and case law and are weaker on remedy, which is likely to be the client’s main focus.

This book avoids that problem with strong coverage of remedies which shows a knowledge of the problems that are likely to arise. The authors clearly explain the legislation and case law providing helpful examples.

There are also well chosen appendices that will be handy for a busy practitioner and on a more practical level an Employers Forum on Disability Guide to communicating with disabled people that contains good practical information. I would recommend this book to the busy lawyer working in this area.

Louise Curtis, senior lawyer, the Equality and Human Rights Commission

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