UK Supreme Court Revives £148 Taxi Driver Claim, Easing Test for Part-Time Bias
Updated
Updated · The Law Society Gazette · Aug 12
UK Supreme Court Revives £148 Taxi Driver Claim, Easing Test for Part-Time Bias
3 articles · Updated · The Law Society Gazette · Aug 12
Summary
Five Supreme Court justices unanimously allowed Warren Augustine’s appeal, ruling that part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, not the sole cause.
The case stems from Augustine’s 2016 claim that Data Cars’ £148 weekly circuit fee hit part-time drivers harder because they paid more per hour worked than full-time colleagues.
Lower courts had dismissed his claim after treating sole causation as the key test; the Supreme Court said Regulation 5’s wording does not justify rewriting it as “solely because.”
The judgment said other causes can still matter when employers argue objective justification or when compensation is assessed, but it broadens the route for part-time workers to bring discrimination claims.
The ruling resolves a long-running inconsistency in UK employment law and aligns part-time worker protection more closely with wider discrimination causation standards.