Disparate impact

Case 1: The facts

A number of employees of British Airways alleged indirect sex discrimination on the grounds that by working part-time they had been denied access to seniority benefits.

To succeed in their claims, they had to prove that a higher proportion of women than men were disadvantaged by the exclusion of periods of part-time working from their continuous service.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled in favour of British Airways in all the claims. It held that the tribunal had looked at the wrong statistics, and should have considered first the proportion of men and women in the advantaged group - that is, those who did have access to the seniority benefits. Only if this had shown a significant difference in the numbers of men and women affected would it have been necessary to go on and compare that with the proportion of men and women in the disadvantaged group (who did not have seniority benefits).

The EAT also held that the claims could be brought only under the Equal Pay Act and not the Sex Discrimination Act.

British Airways v Grundy and others UKEAT/0676/04