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Discrimination

Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and Others [2018] UKSC 49

2018

The UK Supreme Court has held that a Belfast bakery refusing to provide a cake to a gay man with the message ‘support same sex marriage’ on it did not discriminate against him on grounds of sexual orientation or political belief.
 
Sexual Orientation
 
The Court found that the bakery did not refuse to fulfil the order because of the customer’s actual or perceived sexual orientation. The bakery objected to the message on the cake, not to the personal characteristics of the customer, nor anyone with whom he was associated.
 

Tags
Discrimination, Local Developments
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Supreme Court to sit in Belfast

2017

The Supreme Court will hear the final appeal in the Ashers Bakery cake next April when it sits in Belfast for the first time.

Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court, will be joined by three other judges including the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Kerr.  The four judges will hear arguments on whether Ashers Bakery discriminated against a customer on the grounds of sexual orientation when it refused to fulfil an order for a cake with a slogan supporting same sex marriage.  The bakery’s Christian owners do not accept that it breached equality laws by refusing to make the cake.

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Discrimination
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Employers are entitled to ban the Islamic headscarf in the workplace

2017

Case C-157/15 and Case C – 188/15

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that employers are entitled to ban religious symbols in the workplace, including the Islamic headscarf.

Tags
Discrimination, Employment Law
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Supreme Court rules that bus company must accommodate wheelchair users by taking reasonable action

2017

FirstGroup Plc v Paulley [2017] UKSC 4

The Supreme Court unanimously found that a bus company’s policy requiring a driver to request that a non-wheelchair user vacate a space without taking any further steps was unjustified.

Tags
Disability, Discrimination
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NI Attorney-General cannot refer Ashers case to the Supreme Court

2017

Gareth Lee v Colin McArthur, Karen McArthur and Ashers Baking Company Ltd [2016] NICA 55

In our October Update, we reported that on 24th October 2016, the Court of Appeal found that Ashers Baking Company had directly discriminated against the respondent on grounds of sexual orientation, and religious and political belief, by refusing to fulfil his order for a cake in support of marriage equality.

Tags
Discrimination, LGBT
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Court of Appeal rules that Ashers Bakery directly discriminated on grounds of sexual orientation

2016

Lee v McArthur and Ashers Baking Co. Ltd (Court of Appeal)

On 24th October 2016, the Court of Appeal found that Ashers Baking Company had directly discriminated against the respondent on grounds of sexual orientation, and religious and political belief, by refusing to fulfil his order for a cake in support of marriage equality.

Tags
Discrimination, LGBT
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