The CoA has today (24 May 2024) handed down an important judgment on the scope of contract worker discrimination: Boohene v The Royal Parks Ltd. This was a claim by 16 contract workers carrying out work for The Royal Parks (TRP) under a contract with Vinci, a large outsourcing company. The claimants alleged that TRP had applied a PCP of paying its own employees the London Living Wage (LLW), but not requiring its contract workers to be paid the LLW. They said the PCP was indirectly discriminatory on grounds of race. The CoA has dismissed the claimants’ appeal; but more importantly, has also held that no claim for contract worker discrimination can be brought, where the alleged discrimination arises from the terms of a contract worker’s contract with their own employer; and that remains the case, even if the terms of that contract are to a greater or lesser extent controlled by the principal.
An overview of the case can be found here.
Julian Milford KC appeared for The Royal Parks.
