Lawyer wins gay discrimination case against law firm
An Employment Appeal Tribunal has today upheld that law firm Bivonas LLP discriminated against one of their former employees because of his sexual orientation.
Peter Lloyd
news.PinkPaper.com
Friday, 3 February 2012
3 February 2012
An Employment Appeal Tribunal has today upheld that law firm Bivonas LLP discriminated against one of their former employees because of his sexual orientation. The Equality and Human Rights Commission funded Mr Bennett’s defence against the law firm’s appeal.
The lawyer’s discrimination claim focused on a memo from one of the firm’s partners. It falsely implied that Mr Bennett only selected gay barristers and said he should be sacked. After lodging a grievance, Mr Bennett says the firm tried to intimidate him into withdrawing his claim.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed that the content of the memo was “a professional slur of the utmost gravity”.
It also agreed that the conduct of his grievance was discriminatory.
The tribunal considered if a ‘reasonable’ worker would think the memo had put them at a disadvantage. It decided that other people would have been insulted if the memo had been about them.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal found no evidence that heterosexual men had been insulted in the same way as Mr Bennett for being gay. Nor could the law firm provide justification for treating Mr Bennett differently to other employees.
John Wadham, Group Director Legal, Equality and Human Rights Commission said:
“Homophobia will not be tolerated in the workplace or anywhere else. We funded Mr Bennett’s defence and this win has set a precedent for discrimination law.”
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