Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management
Mrs Dunn raised grievances about changes to contractual sick pay provisions in her contract. Her grievances were rejected and during the appeal process, the company’s Chief Executive made mention of Mrs Dunn’s husband (who worked for the same employer) and his out-of-work activities and other behaviour. Mrs Dunn’s appeal was rejected and her role was proposed for redundancy. But before the redundancy process was in full swing she resigned, claiming constructive dismissal. She also claimed victimisation under the (then) Sex Discrimination Act – her case was that her employer wanted to make her redundant because she was married to Mr Dunn.
Up to this point, there had really only been protection from discrimination which related to marital status, in other words the fact that a person was or wasn’t married. The tribunal held that Mrs Dunn had only been treated less favourably because she was married to Mr Dunn, rather than because of her married status. Her dismissal was held to be unfair but her discrimination claim failed.
This changed on appeal. The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the marital status provisions cover discrimination based on marriage to a particular person, and not just being married (or not being married, as the case may be).
