Unpaid carers to get protection at work following landmark European Court of Justice case

This follows an historic case taken by carer Sharon Coleman who claimed that she was discriminated against and harassed because she had a disabled son and was treated less favourably than employees whose children weren’t disabled. Sharon Coleman claimed that her employer, London law firm Attridge Law, refused to allow her to return to the same job after maternity leave, accused her of being “lazy” when she needed to take time off to care for her child and threatened her with disciplinary action.

This ruling could give new rights to millions of unpaid carers who are struggling to combine caring with paid work.

Commenting on the case, Patrick Begley, Director of Carers Scotland, said:

“This is an historic step towards true equality for unpaid carers. Too many carers face discrimination at work, yet they are the bedrock of our communities and society.

Although this ruling appears to apply only to parents of disabled children, we will be urging the Government to ensure that all people providing unpaid care to others, for example a spouse, parent, other family member or friend, benefit from this provision. Changes will require to be made to UK law and the UK Government should take a proactive approach to include all carers, rather than awaiting further cases to be taken through the courts, which causes huge stress and expense to unpaid carers.

This landmark judgement will have huge implications for discrimination and employment law.  Employers will now have to ensure that carers in their workforce are not treated differently to other employees. Carers of both adults and disabled children have the right to request flexible working, but this new ruling will give them greater protection. At a time when there is a severe shortage of skilled workers, it makes good business and economic sense for employers to support the carers in their workforce more effectively. Currently, 250,000 employees in Scotland have caring responsibilities outside work.  This represents 50% of carers in Scotland and 1 in 10 of the workforce.

This ruling follows the publication of the UK Government’s National Strategy for Carers and its proposals for the forthcoming Equality Bill. Neither contained any measures aimed at eliminating discrimination against carers. In the light of today’s judgement we strongly urge the UK Government to incorporate equality for carers when it publishes its response to the Discrimination Law Review consultation and the Equality Bill."

Ends.

For further information:

• Fiona Collie, Policy & Parliamentary Affairs Manager T:  0141 221 9141 or fiona.collie@carerscotland.org
• Patrick J Begley, Director T: 0141 221 9141 or pat.begley@carerscotland.org
• Kate Groucutt, Carers UK Press Office: T: 020 7378 4936 M. 07505 184262 or kate.groucutt@carersuk.org

Notes to editors

1. Carers Scotland is part of Carers UK and is the leading campaigning, policy and information organisation of and for carers. Carers Scotland continues to make a difference to carers' lives by: campaigning for a better deal for carers; informing carers of their rights and what help is available; training and advising professionals who work with carers; working across the Scotland through its membership and networks of branches and affiliates. For more information, visit www.carerscotland.org.  For more information on Carers UK visit www.carersuk.org or for advice on your caring situation call CarersLine on T. 0808 808 7777.
2. Carers Scotland and Carers UK recently launched Employers for Carers, a membership forum for employers who wish to support the carers in their workforce, along with a core leadership group including BT, Unum Provident and Listawood. For more information about Employers for Carers and the business case for supporting carers in the workplace, visit:  www.carerscotland.org/Employersforcarers.
3. Sharon Coleman worked as a legal secretary for a South London law firm. In 2002 she had a child who suffered from a disability in the first years of his life. Following her return to work, she alleges that she was treated less favourably by her employer than other parents of (non-disabled) children were treated in the workplace. This alleged treatment included: not permitting her to return to her previous post, criticising her when she sought to take time off to care for her child, threats of disciplinary action over lateness, refusal of permission to work from home when her child had to have an operation, and harassive comments. Ms Coleman left the firm in March 2005 and brought a claim for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination. Her case was taken by the law firm Bates, Wells & Braithwaite. For more information, see: www.bwbllp.com/Updates/Detail.aspx?UpdateID=152&Location=1&ID=0
4. There are 374,800 of carers are of working age in Scotland (4,439,786 working age carers in the UK), 250,000 (2,510,034 in the UK) of whom are in work (Source: Out of pocket: A survey of carers’ lost earnings, Carers UK 2007. Figures from 2001 Census).
5. The UK Government published the National Strategy for Carers on 10th June. Read the Strategy here: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/Carers/NewDealforCarers/index.htm