Companies will have to look carefully at their employment and recruitment policies should an opinion of the EU issued yesterday be adopted by the full European Court. Sharon Coleman, a legal secretary, is suing her former employers, claiming that they failed to allow her time off to care for her severely disabled son. The opinion, handed down by an adviser to the European Court of Justice, holds that existing anti-discrimination laws which apply to the disabled also cover carers.
In other words, millions of workers who are forced to juggle fulltime care with their job would be able to demand more flexible working hours. About one in eight adults in the UK are carers.
