Sex discrimination

Case 4: The facts

The rules of the prison service state that female officers are required to search male prisoners, although male officers are not required (or permitted) to search female prisoners. Prison officer Carol Saunders claimed that this rule amounted to sex discrimination.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that it was discriminatory to require a woman to overcome her feelings of indecency and deal with inappropriate comments from male prisoners when a man was not required to do the same.

As this amounted to direct rather than indirect discrimination, the employer was prevented from offering a defence on the ground that the discrimination was justifiable.

The Home Office v Saunders UKEAT/0260/05