Recruitment manager Jennifer Newman has won nearly £30,000 in damages after being subjected to a campaign of sexual harassment and then being sacked from her position at Hydro Cleansing.

The Daily Telegraph, Page: 3   Evening Standard, Page: 3   Daily Express, Page: 9

 

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has ruled that the use of all-female shortlists to get more women in the boardroom is unlawful under equality law. The EHRC’s guidance said: “It constitutes unlawful sex discrimination to select a person for a role because of their gender. The law does not permit positive discrimination when making an appointment or a promotion. However, the law provides scope for companies to address any disadvantage or disproportionately low participation on boards by enabling or encouraging applications from a particular gender, provided selection is made on merit.” The rejection of women-only lists was supported by the Institute of Directors. Oliver Parry, the IoD’s corporate governance adviser, said: “We hope that the guidance issued today will help boards to appoint more women through measures including aspirational targets, wider advertising for posts and mentoring and shadowing programmes.”

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (Commencement No. 6, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2014 SI 2014/416 has now been published. The Order brings into effect S.66 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which abolishes the statutory discrimination questionnaires contained in the Equality Act 2010. The change takes effect on 6 April 2014 in relation to acts of discrimination occurring on or after that date.

A complainant may still ask questions of the respondent and a court or tribunal can still draw adverse inferences from a refusal to respond or from evasive answers, despite the lack of any provision for a statutory questionnaire.

It is somewhat surprising that this has been implemented given the vast majority of those who participated in the consultation opposed the abolition. Another example of the Government’s agenda against Claimants; the Poor and the vulnerable, we wonder.