News
A mother who cares for her disabled son has won the right to bring an unfair treatment claim against her employer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC), which backed Sharon Coleman, says her case concerns the interpretation of the EU’s Equal Treatment Framework Directive and its impact on UK disability discrimination legislation.
Although she is not disabled, Coleman claims the Directive protects her from unfair treatment stemming from her association with her disabled son.
Coleman, a legal secretary, says she was subjected to unfair treatment by her employers before she resigned in March 2005. In particular, she claims she was criticised and described as ‘lazy’ when she wanted to take time off to care for her child, and was not allowed to work flexibly, unlike mothers of non-disabled children working for the same employer.
Her former employer argued that UK discrimination legislation did include protection from ‘associative discrimination’ and questioned the
authority of the chairman of the original tribunal to refer the issue to the ECJ.
However, Judge Peter Clark, sitting alone at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), held that an employment tribunal does have the power to make such a reference. He also agreed with the chairman that the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 “is capable of interpretation, consistent with an interpretation of the Directive…to include associative discrimination”.
Agnes Fletcher, DRC assistant director of communications, says: “This case could have a major impact on the employment prospects of the six million people who provide unpaid care.”
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