Recent Case Law Developments
| Date | 01 March 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822919500100108 |
| Published date | 01 March 1995 |
| Author | Camilla Palmer |
International Journal
of
Discrimination and
the
Law,
1995,
Vol.
1,
pp.
83-85
1358-2291/95
$10
©
1995
A B
Academic
Publishers.
Printed
in
Great
Britain
RECENT CASE LAW DEVELOPMENTS
DISCRIMINATION LAW GROUP NEWS
Compensation for discrimination -race,
sex
and equal pay; recent
developments
Removal
of
limit on compensation payments
Sex discrimination
The ECJ decision in Marshall (No 2) 1993 IRLR 445 (decided
on 2.8.93) forced the government to remove the £11,000 limit on
compensation payments in sex discrimination cases. Although public
sector employees could rely directly on Marshall, against their
employers, private sector employees have had no direct remedy
against their employers.
The Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay (Remedies) Regulations
1993, which came into force on 22 November 1993, removed the
compensation limit in all sex discrimination cases under the SDA and
gave tribunals the power to award interest.
Race discrimination
The cap on race discrimination compensation awards was
removed
by
the
Race
Relations
(Remedies)
Act
which
came
into
effect on 3 July 1994. The Race Relations (Interest on Awards)
Regulations also allow interest to be awarded as from 1 August
1994.
Pregnancy cases
under
the
EPCA
For cases brought under the Employment Protection
(Consolidation) Act the limit is still £11,000. There is a strong argu-
ment that for pregnancy related dismissals this limit is in breach
of
the EC Pregnant Workers Directive. The article in the Equal Treat-
ment Directive on which Ms Marshall relied (article 6) is reproduced
(almost word for word) in the Pregnant Workers Directive (article
12). Women making claims under the EP(C)A on pregnancy related
grounds should argue that there is no limit on the compensation
if
they have a public sector employer.
MOD pregnancy dismissals
In the MOD pregnancy dismissal cases women relied on the
Equal Treatment Directive. Substantial awards
of
compensation
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