EMPLOYMENT LAW

EMPLOYMENT LAW

The employee was a schoolteacher. She brought a sex discrimination claim when, following her return from maternity leave, she was allocated a different class to teach from the one she had taught before taking leave.

Held Construing reg 18 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999: the tribunal should have in mind both

(i) the purposes of the legislation, and (

(ii) the fact that the regulations themselves provide for exceptional cases—namely that where it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit her to return to her previous job, he may provide for her return to another job which is both suitable for her and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances.

As to

(i), the legislation seeks to ensure  that there is as little dislocation as reasonably possible in her working life, so as to avoid adding to the burdens which will  inevitably exist in her family or private life simply because she has a very young infant making new demands upon her. As to

(ii), even given that the purpose of the legislation is to protect the employee, there is no need to construe “same job” as covering a broad spectrum of work to ensure an  appropriate balance between employer and employee. “Job” can be quite specifically defined. Latitude is provided by an employer being able to provide a job which is not the same job, but is nonetheless suitable (per Langstaff J at para 56).