The European Court of Justice is to rule on whether a carer of a disabled person who suffers detriment at work because of her caring duties can claim disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Mrs Coleman is not disabled but she has a disabled child who needs specialised care. She asked her employer for flexible working arrangements but these were refused even though mothers of non-disabled children were allowed to work flexibly. She claimed that she had been unlawfully discriminated against by her employer on grounds of her son's disability. This sort of discrimination by association, known as associative discrimination, is a concept which already exists in race and sex discrimination laws. But the wording of the DDA does not, as drafted, allow for this form of discrimination. Mrs Coleman is claiming that the relevant European directive does provide for associative discrimination and so the UK laws should be interpreted so as to include it.
TLT Solicitors