Sexual orientation discrimination

A gay employee who had ‘come out’ at work had not been subjected to direct sexual orientation discrimination and harassment. Idle chat at work about someone being gay, when he has already made it public, will not, without more, amount to discrimination.

A tribunal’s failure to take into account that an employee had actively ‘come out’ as gay in deciding that he had been discriminated against meant that the case was sent back to another tribunal to be reconsidered.

E sued his employer for harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation after his colleagues relentlessly teased him about being gay – the sole basis for which appeared to be that he was educated at a boarding school and lived in Brighton.