We tend to think of discrimination as an individual's cause
of action. The recent case of EAD Solicitors v Abrams
[2015] reminds us that this is not always the case. Companies can
also bring claims for discrimination under the Equality Act.
In the Abrams case the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) was
asked to rule on the question of whether a limited company can
bring a claim that it has been directly discriminated against where
it suffers detrimental treatment because of the protected
characteristic of someone with whom it is associated.
The EAT's answer is that a limited company can bring such a
claim.
In a concise judgment, Mr Justice Langstaff gave his view that
the anti-discrimination law is always likely to be focused upon an
individual and his/her reaction to the insult of discrimination.
However, the wording of the Equality Act does not restrict
potential claimants to individuals alone and there are policy
reasons why companies require protection from
