Human Rights Issues in the Employment Law Context

Originally published in Personnel Today, April 2005

Human rights issues are attracting national publicity in the run-up to the general election but they have impacted upon employment law since the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was introduced in 1950. The Human Rights Act (the "Act") incorporated Convention rights directly into English law in October 2000. In recent months, three particular human rights have impacted upon employment law, namely the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8), the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 9) and non-discrimination (Article 14).

The Court of Appeal in X v Y ([2004] IRLR 625) considered the scope of the Convention (and the Act) when a claimant claimed that his private employer, a charity, breached his rights to respect for private and family life and non-discrimination. The claimant, who worked with young people, was dismissed when his employer learned of his caution for