“A paid army volunteer could not claim he had been discriminated against due to disability when work for the army stopped because he did not have an employment contract, an employment appeal tribunal judge has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 4th May 2011
Source: www.out-law.com
“An appeal court ruling which denies volunteer workers the anti-discrimination employment protection enjoyed by staff has been described as unfair by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”
The Guardian, 28th January 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A disabled volunteer worker at an advice bureau was not protected from acts of discrimination on grounds of disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, nor could she rely on the direct effect of Council Directive 2000/78/EEC (‘the Framework Directive’) to sustain an action for discrimination. Although voluntary posts like that held by the claimant might assist the holder to gain a permanent paid post, that was not the purpose of having volunteer workers, most of whom had no wish to join the permanent staff. The volunteer post was not to be treated as a form of vocational training subject to article 3(1)(c) of the Framework Directive.”
WLR Daily, 26th January 2011
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Twenty-somethings working for free might be a common fixture in politics, media and fashion, but employers are almost certainly breaking the law when they take on unpaid interns because they should be giving them wages if they work, according to a new report.”
Daily Telegraph, 31st July 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Volunteers who give their time unpaid to charities are not covered by domestic or European equal treatment legislation designed to protect employees, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 12th November 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
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