Recently in Discrimination Category

A solicitor who was refused a permanent job at the end of her training contract after becoming pregnant has successfully sued a City law firm for discrimination, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Trainee solicitor Katie Tantum, who is 33, sued law firm Travers Smith for discrimination after she was refused a full-time job at the end of her two-year 'training contract' after becoming pregnant.

Solicitors must complete their 'Legal Practice Course' at Law School before taking on a two-year training post in industry to complete their qualification. At the end of this period many stay on at their training firm, or move on elsewhere for their first full-time permanent role.

A lesbian couple on the Isle of Man have called for a change in the law after being refused rental accommodation on the basis of their sexual orientation, reports the BBC.

The couple, Kira Izzard and Laura Cull who live in the capital, Douglas, were refused the opportunity to rent a house on the island by a landlord who felt uncomfortable with their sexual orientation.

The shocked couple were then left further dismayed after learning that the Isle has no laws preventing this kind of archaic sexual orientation discrimination.

The Government has announced that it will outlaw caste-based discrimination by amending the Equality Act 2010, reports the BBC.

The House of Lords has twice previously backed proposals to outlaw discrimination against over 400,000 'untouchables' of Hindu and Sikh faith that live in the UK.

The House of Commons previously overturned the Lord's vote and the Government had vowed to oppose any further move to protect the untouchables again. However, on Monday the coalition said that after careful consideration they had decided to back the policy.

The House of Lords has voted in favour of adding a new clause to anti-discrimination laws which will outlaw discrimination on the basis of caste.

The Government had opposed the new law, saying that education programmes would be sufficient to end the practice, reports the BBC.

The caste system is a feature of Indian communities and is particularly prevalent in Sikh and Hindu communities. According to the caste traditions families form part of a social tier, within which family members socialise and form relationships.

The UK Government lost one of four crucial legal cases on religious freedoms and discrimination at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg yesterday, but claimed that overall the verdict represented a victory for their policies on the matter.

Nadia Eweida, Shirley Chaplin, Gary McFarlane and Lillian Ladele all took appeals over employment discrimination to the European Court on the basis that their right to freedom of religion under article 9 was infringed by the policies of their employers.

However, the European Court disagreed, ruling against three of the appellants. Lillian Ladele, a council registrar who refused to conduct same-sex marriages, and Gary McFarlane, a relationship counsellor who refused to give advice to same-sex couples, both lost their appeals against dismissal.

Stuart Lawrence, the younger brother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has instructed a lawyer to raise a complaint against the Metropolitan Police, after complaining that he has been stopped more than 25 times because of his ethnic origin.

Mr Lawrence, 35, is a teacher and lives in Peckham, South London, with his fiancée and young son.

He says that the police regularly target him and can have no reason for doing so other than the colour of his skin.

The decision by the Church of England's General Synod to continue its prohibition on women serving as bishops has sparked considerable fury from many sections of society.

Last week at Prime Minister's Question Time, David Cameron said he was 'very sad' that the Church voted against the admission of women.

Now the debate has moved on, with the Church of England's representative in the House of Commons, Tony Baldry MP, saying that the General Synod should hold a revote as soon as possible.

Plans by the Welsh Assembly to bring in new laws to put English and Welsh on an equal footing will not be challenged by MPs in Westminster, after the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, announced that he will not challenge the Official Languages Act.

The new law was passed by Assembly Members last month, and is designed to give the Welsh and English language equal footing in the eyes of Welsh law. The law will ensure that laws must be written in Welsh, and that the Assembly must use Welsh as well as English when dealing with the public.

There was some doubt as to whether the assembly could legislate in this area, requiring the Attorney General to consider the matter.

The Care Minister Paul Burstow has announced plans to introduce a new law to ban doctors from denying treatment to elderly patients simply because of their age.

The new law will come into effect this October as part of the Equality Act 2010.

The minister also announced plans to impose a legal duty on carers and nursing staff to consider the "wellbeing and dignity" of elderly patients.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the French Government was entitled to prevent a gay woman from adopting the child of her partner.

The ruling came in the case of Gas and Dubois v France (2012). It states that the French Government did not breach the women's right to respect for private and family life (under article 8) and their right not to be discriminated against in their enjoyment of a Convention right (under article 14).

The case concerns Ms Valerie Gas and her partner Ms Nathalie Duboise, who are both in their 50s and who have lived together under the French equivalent of a civil partnership since 2002.

A cross-party group of Christian MPs has reported that the law must reasonably accommodate those with religious beliefs.

The group wants to see provision included in the Equality Act 2010 extended to cover religious groups in the same way as those with disabilities.

The group, called 'Clearing the Ground', have called for the change in the law which would then allow cases of discrimination to be viewed on a case-by-case basis.

The education secretary, Conservative MP Michael Gove has been plunged into the middle of a row about equality in the school curriculum.

The education secretary has said that the Equality Act does not apply to the school curriculum, which it is claimed will give faith schools the green light to teach homophobic material in class.

Equality laws in the UK prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. However, Mr Gove has claimed that these legal provisions do not apply to the school curriculum. The Trade Union Congress, a conglomerate of several unions, has now accused Mr Gove of failing in his legal duties.

A controversial judgment made in the Court of Appeal could now pave the way for airlines to introduce a 'fat tax' penalising overweight passengers who wish to fly abroad.

The ruling could effectively prevent an overweight passenger from claiming compensation if they receive unsatisfactory or inconsistent service from an airline during a flight.

The Court of Appeal case concerned the application of the UK's advanced disability and discrimination laws which would normally see compensation awarded in cases where passengers could prove that they had suffered poor service due to a disability.

A man from New York, USA, who filed an age discrimination lawsuit against a youth orchestra, has complained that the judge presiding over his case is too old.

Martin Stoner, 60, wanted to play violin in a competition run by not-for-profit company Young Concert Artists aimed at young musicians aged between 19 to 26.

Mr Stoner recently lost his job with the New York City Ballet Orchestra and decided to enter the competition, which offered £46,000 worth of career support as a prize.

During the riots that took place in August this year, BBC2's Newsnight filmed a panel of guests discussing the nature of the civil disorder, including historian David Starkey.

Dr Starkey angered many viewers with his comment: "What has happened is that the substantial section of the 'chavs' ... have become black. The whites have become black."

Hundreds of complaints from the public were received by the media regulating body Ofcom. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, described the comment as "racist" and "outrageous".