Contentious third parties

While the legal position under the Equality Act 2010 clarifies the law and puts third party harassment claims on a clearer footing, the judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in the case of Conteh v Parking Partners Limited UKEAT/0288/10/SM is an interesting consideration of the application of the Race Relations Act 1976 to such claims, and touches upon contentions previously raised by the authors (158 NLJ, 7342, p 1474).

Facts

Ms Conteh is a black African female, born in Sierra Leone. She was employed as a customer car park attendant for a company that provided car parking facilities in various developments. On 14 March 2009, a member of marketing staff employed by St George’s, in the development served by the car parking facilities provided by Parking Partners, did not have a validated ticket to leave the car park. She was told by Conteh that she could not leave, though she in fact did so.

The next morning another member of the marketing