‘A Short and Important Point’
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| Author | Kim Marshall |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822919800300205 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
139
Role of Industrial Tribunals
.
London
:
Policy Studies Institute, 1990,
p
. 177)
. While the courts have, in the past, appeared eager not to
earn public disapproval by making excessively large awards, they
have appeared less fearful of breeding contempt for the law by
awarding very small sums
. Perhaps of even more concern is the fact
that the majority of successful sex and race discrimination claims do
not result in the award of any compensation
: in 1995/6, for example,
only 30% and 35% respectively of successful race and sex discrim-
ination claims led to awards
. And in the same time frame, only 19%
and 38% respectively of those race and sex discrimination claims
heard by tribunals resulted in findings in favour of the applicant
. In
all, only 6% of those who succeeded in getting their race discrimina-
tion complaints before a tribunal, and 13% of those who got their sex
discrimination complaints there, received any award at all
.
The decision of EAT in
Armitage, Marsden & HM Prison Ser-
vice v Johnson will not increase the success rate of those who bring
their complaints of race or sex discrimination to the law . Nor, pre-
sumably, will it increase awards at the very lowest end of the scale
.
It is to be hoped, however, that it might stand as a warning to those
employers who practice or permit discrimination
. It is a matter of
regret, however, that in this case, as in those in which local authorit-
ies and other government bodies are the wrongdoers, it is the tax-
payer, rather than the villains of the piece, who pay at least the lion's
share of the bill
.
Aileen McColgan
Lecturer in Law
King's College London
UK
`A SHORT AND IMPORTANT POINT'
Scullard v (1) B
.J
. Knowles and
(2)
Southern Regional Council for
Education and Training [1996]
IRLR 344
`A short and important point' is how Mummery J
. described the appeal of
Susan Scullard as regards the effect of E
.C
. law on the application of the
. This decision means that the scope of equal pay com-
parisons is not restricted to those comparators in the `same employment'
(as defined by s
.1(6) of the Equal Pay Act) but can be extended to those in
the `same establishment or service' (Case 43/75
Defrenne v Sabena No
. 2
[1976] ECR 455, p
. 476)
.
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