The Court of Appeal has today handed down judgment in O’Brien v Ministry of Justice and Walker v Innospec and ors. The Court upheld the judgments of the EAT in each case. In both cases, the Court held that entitlement to a pension (whether under a final salary or defined contribution scheme) accrues and becomes fixed during employment service, and does not arise only on retirement or at the point of payment. Accordingly, in O’Brien the Court determined that claims by part-time judges for equality of pension with full-time judges cannot be back-dated so as to be calculated by reference to sitting days undertaken prior to the deadline for the transposition of the Part-Time Workers Directive on 7 April 2000. In Walker the Court held that the exception in paragraph 18 of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010 for claims of sexual orientation discrimination in relation to benefits dependent on marital status is lawful, i.e. that it is lawful for same sex married couples and civil partners not to be treated equally to opposite sex married couples in relation to pension benefits accrued in respect of periods of service that occurred prior to the coming into force of the Civil Partnership Act 2005 on 5 December 2005. The Court considered the matter clear and declined to make a reference to the CJEU.
Permission to appeal was refused by the Court of Appeal in Walker.
John Cavanagh KC, Charles Bourne KC and Rachel Kamm appeared for the Ministry of Justice in O’Brien. Jason Coppel KC and Holly Stout appeared for the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in Walker.
Read the judgment here.
