News last week that BBC producer Oison Tymon has raised
Employment Tribunal proceedings against both his employer and
former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson serves as a timely
reminder that the Equality Act can be used to hold an employer
liable for employees' acts of unlawful discrimination.
While Mr Clarkson may have felt a degree of relief earlier in the
year when his erstwhile colleague chose not to press for a criminal
prosecution after an alleged physical and verbal assault, it now
appears Mr Tymon isn't prepared to let things go entirely.
Precise details of the claim are unclear but we know a
preliminary hearing took place at the London Employment Tribunal
and that one feature of the alleged assault was apparently abusive
remarks making reference to Tymon's Irish origins. An
educated guess would suggest the claim is one of race
discrimination and given Clarkson and the BBC are both named as
respondents, it looks like the vicarious liability provisions
