Coleman v. Attridge Law

"Coleman v. Attridge Law" ( [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62006C0303:EN:HTML C-303/06] ) (also, "Attridge Law (a Firm) v. Coleman" [2007] IRLR 88) is a labour law case, pending before the European Court of Justice. The question is whether the European Union's discrimination policy covers not just people who are disabled (or have a particular sex, race, religion, belief and age) but people who suffer discrimination because they are related or connected to disabled people. At the beginning of 2008, Advocate General Maduro delivered his opinion, supporting an inclusive approach. He said discrimination law is there to combat all forms of discrimination, including those connected to protected groups of people.

Facts

Sharon Coleman had a disabled son, Oliver, with bronchomalacia and congential laryngomalacia. She worked as a secretary for a small London law firm called Attridge Law (now rebranded EBR Attridge Solicitors LLP). They accused her of using the "fucking child" as a way to manipulate requests for working time.

Sharon claimed unfair dismissal as a result of her treatment (under the Employment Rights Act 1996, s.94). However, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4, it states that one may consider oneself discriminated against (leading to unfair dismissal compensation) only if the treatment is "against a disabled person". Because Sharon was not herself disabled, the question was whether the 1995 Act had properly implement the European Union Directive 2000/78/EC on the matter.

In their defence against the claim for, Attridge law argued that the 1995 Act could not be interpreted in line with the directive, whatever it meant.

Employment Appeal Tribunal

Peter Clark J for the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that it was wrong to say the Act could not be interpreted in line with the Directive. But he reserved his judgment and decided to refer the question to the European Court of Justice, on what the correct interpretation of Directive

Advocate General's Opinion

In the Advocate General's Opinion, Miguel Poiares Maduro generalised his statements for all the protected categories under the Framework Directive (religion, age, sexuality). He said,

“One way of undermining the dignity and autonomy of people who belong to a certain group is to target not them, but third persons who are closely associated with them and do not themselves belong to the group.” (para. 12)

The preparatory argument is built around the driving force behind Article 13 TEC, on which the Directive is based. And then he cites Ronald Dworkin's philosophy on what it means to protect dignity, that it is a fundamental value for everyone, even among those who disagree about how it is realised. He also referred to Joseph Raz, on the idea that autonomy presupposes that individuals have available number of valuable choices, and the law is to be concerned in protecting them.

From the law itself, Maduro relies on the wording of the first Article of the Directive which says it wants to combat discrimination ‘on the grounds of’ those categories. He characterises the action against Sharon as direct discrimination (para. 20). Comparing typical discrimination to this, he says,

"In the former case, we think that such conduct is wrong and must be prohibited; the latter is exactly the same in every material aspect." (para. 22)

Also, recital 6, emphasises ‘the importance of combating every form of discrimination.’ (para. 24)

European Court of Justice

The ECJ has not released its judgment yet. However statistically, 80% of Advocate General's opinions are followed. The decision would have a significant impact on people in the UK who are not currently protected by discrimination legislation. 6 million carers exist in the UK currently, and with an aging population, 9 million are projected by 2037 according to Carers UK.

ee also

*Employment discrimination law in the UK

Notes

External links

* [http://www.attridge-law.co.uk/ Attridge Law's website]