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Law Cases
Labour Law Cases
Conceptural apparatus of discrimination and equal treatment Cases

EOC v SoS for Employment [1994] 1 All E.R. 910

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
Lord Keith

  • Some legislation limited redundancy and other rights to those working under 8 hours a week.

  • Commission argued that this constituted indirect discrimination against women, who formed the vast majority of part time workers.

  • HL accepted this, and that since there was no objective justification for the discrimination the legislation was in breach of Article 141 (equal pay article).

    • It also considered that the burden of justification lay on the Secretary of State (SoS). 

Lord Keith

  • There was no adequate evidence adduced by SoS (and lots of counter evidence) that reduced protection for those working under 8 hours per week actually increased the availability of part-time work, which is how the SoS attempted to justify the ID.

  • Since the burden of evidence of justification is on the party raising it as a defence, the justification defence failed here. 

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