Gender equality on the railways is still some way down the tracks, says Charles Pigott
- A few weeks ago the Employment Appeal Tribunal grappled with a discrimination claim from a female train driver after numerous requests to adjust her working hours had been refused.
- Both the facts and legal issues were strikingly similar to Susan Edwards’ battle with London Underground nearly twenty years earlier.
In XC Trains Ltd v CD and Aslef EAT/0331/15, a female train driver employed in the North East brought proceedings for indirect sex discrimination against her employer. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the employment tribunal’s finding that the employer’s required working patterns put women at a particular disadvantage. However, it overturned the tribunal’s rejection of the employer’s justification defence and remitted this issue to a new tribunal.
CD: the facts
At the relevant time, XC Trains employed 559 train drivers of whom 17 were women. At the Newcastle depot, where the claimant worked, there were 21 drivers including four women.
The standard shift pattern meant that only a small minority of shifts fell entirely during family friendly hours. The claimant,
