Abstract/Summary

The facts of NH v Lenford concerned statements made by a senior lawyer in a radio interview, which suggested that he would never hire a gay person to work in his law firm, nor wish to use the services of such a person. The Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) determined that this contravened relevant legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment, even though the statements were made without a recruitment procedure being underway. The CJEU and the Italian Court of Cassation when implementing the CJEU judgment both found that the person making such statements was influential on the firm’s recruitment policy and that compensation was payable to the applicants – the Associazione Avvocatura per i diritti LGBTI (the ‘Associazione’), a non-profit 1ecognizes1n representing the general interest of LGBT lawyers – even in the absence of an individual victim. Contrary to the suggestion of other authors, that sexual orientation discrimination is low down the hierarchy of protected characteristics before the EU legislation and CJEU, this article argues that NH v Lenford demonstrates a further step in the continuing evolution of LGBT non-discrimination rights before the European Union. Following Brexit whilst existing EU laws already translated into the UK legislative cannon will be retained, further EU legislation and rulings from the CJEU will not apply to the UK. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (‘TCA’) reached between the UK and EU includes protection of human rights, a ‘non-regression’ and re-balancing clauses with regards to labour and social policy, and thus, enables the EU and UK continuing, albeit limited, influence on each other.