Employment Tribunal reads down Equality Act to give civil partners equal pension rights

27/11/12

Walker v Innospec and ors

The Claimant, John Walker, worked for the respondent company, Innospec, from 1980 to 2003, and is a member of its occupational pension scheme. He entered into a civil partnership in 2006.

The Innospec scheme provides a pension to the spouses of deceased members. The Respondents (Innospec and the scheme's trustees) decided not to provide the same pension to civil partners, except in respect of benefits accrued after the Civil Partnership Act came into force in 2005. In so doing, they relied on paragraph 18(1) of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010, which ostensibly exempts such treatment from contravening the Act's general prohibition of discrimination in the operation of occupation pension schemes.

The result of the Respondents' decision was that, in the event of Mr Walker's death, the Innospec scheme would have paid his civil partner about 1% of the "spouse's pension" it would have provided had he been married to a woman.

The Employment Tribunal held that, contrary to the Respondents' submissions, they had directly discriminated against Mr Walker; such discrimination was prohibited under EU law; and it was possible to read paragraph 18(1) of Schedule 9 to the Act compatibly with that law. The Respondents were therefore in breach of the non-discrimination rule included in the pension scheme by operation of the Act.

The judgment is here.

The Liberty press release is here.