The House of Lords decided in the case of Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm, which overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision that a disabled tenant had been discriminated against by his landlord contrary to Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Although not an ‘employment law’ case, their Lordships’ opinions seem destined to have a significant impact on disability discrimination law in the employment arena. It is of particular note that the majority of the House concluded that the well-established ‘comparator’ test for DDA purposes, laid down by the Court of Appeal back in 1999 in Clark v Novacold, is incorrect. Put simply, the approach advocated by the Lords would make it more difficult for employees to succeed with certain DDA complaints.
Tags: clark v novacold, comparator test, DDA, disability, discrimination
July 2, 2008 at 7:51 pm
[...] Tomasz Stasiuk wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAlthough not an ‘employment law’ case, their Lordships’ opinions seem destined to have a significant impact on disability discrimination law in the employment arena. It is of particular note that the majority of the House concluded that … [...]