2012/22: Does an employer discriminate on grounds of marital status if it treats an employee unfavourably for being married to a particular person? (UK)
Two recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) decisions have reached different conclusions on the tricky issue of whether it is discrimination on the grounds of marital status (a form of unlawful discrimination) if an employer treats a woman less favourably not because she is married, but because she is married to a particular man. In Dunn - v- The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management the EAT held that any less favourable treatment because someone is married is unlawful, even if it is because they are married to a particular person rather than because of the fact of their marriage. However, in the slightly later case of Hawkins - v - Atex Group Ltd a different division of the EAT held that discrimination on marriage grounds only occurred if the ground for the treatment is that the couple are married rather than that they are in any type of close relationship.
Employment Appeal Tribunal, 2012-03-13
