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The Chief Executive claimed their rational for not hiring a black recruit was because of the attitudes of residents in care homes. They instructed Mrs Hobbs to act unlawfully, and to lie.

This case provided clear legal direction that employers would not be expected, as a reasonable adjustment, to continue to pay sick pay to an employee whose disability-related sickness absence has led to them using up all of their contractual entitlement to sick pay.

This judgement overturned one of the most controversial decisions in UK employment law history made by the Employment Appeal Tribunal which suggested that an employee who was dismissed for standing for election for the British National Party (BNP) could claim direct discrimination “on racial grounds”.

In direct discrimination cases, the choice of comparator to show less favourable treatment is often a key issue. This House of Lords decision sets down some important ground rules, including the principle of using ‘hypothetical’ comparators where actual ones are not possible.