Weekly issue 147

News in brief

Under new rules agreed by EU ministers at the beginning of December, parents will have the right to longer parental leave.

Another disability

Given that the whole point of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is to provide protection against discrimination on the ground of someone’s disability, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has decided in Attridge Law LLP v Coleman that the statute can be read to include discrimination relating to “the disability of another person”.

Climate change

The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 cover not just religious but also “philosophical” beliefs. In Grainger plc and ors v Nicholson, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has concluded that a belief in man-made climate change could constitute a 'philosophical belief” for the purposes of the regulations.