Baldness is not a Disability (in case you thought otherwise)
by Emma
An Employment Tribunal has recently decided that baldness does not amount to a physical or mental impairment covered by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). You may not find this surprising. However, teacher, James Campbell, argued that he had been bullied and teased by his pupils because they saw of his lack of hair as a weakness.
The Employment Judge hearing the claim whilst accepting that Mr Campbell had been taunted because of his baldness struck out the disability discrimination claim (his unfair dismissal claim is still live) saying that “if baldness was to be regarded as an impairment then perhaps a physical feature such as a big nose, big ears or being smaller than average height might of themselves be regarded as an impairment under the DDA. That, to me, cannot be right looking to the DDA, the guidance and relevant case law.”
Thank goodness for that!
See here for more information.
Similar Posts:
A sensible judgement but would the result be the same if Mr Campbell had been claiming for depression caused by the taunts etc due to his baldness. This is covered by the DDA and it should have been found in his favour.
Andrew Robinson said at April 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thank you for your comment. I agree that had the claim been for depression caused by taunts due to Mr Campbell’s baldness it could have been covered by the DDA.
Kind regards.
Emma Cohen
Emma said at April 28th, 2008 at 7:54 am