A law firm could be the first of many thousands of employers to face a disability discrimination claim following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on ‘discrimination by association’, employment lawyers have warned.

Legal secretary Sharon Coleman, who has a disabled son, left London firm EBR Attridge, claiming disability discrimination on the grounds that she was treated less favourably than parents of non-disabled children.

The ECJ has now ruled that the European framework directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation provides protection for Coleman who, although not disabled herself, has suffered discrimination through association with her disabled son.

The UK Employment Tribunal must now decide if the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) can be interpreted to reflect the ECJ judgment or whether the DDA needs redrafting.

John McMullen, head of employment at northern firm Watson Burton, said: ‘Discrimination by association poses an enormous risk for many thousands of employers who may be unaware of an employee’s caring responsibilities until they find themselves faced with claims for unlimited damages.’

Steve Law, a partner at EBR Attridge and the second named respondent in the action, speaking to the Gazette in his first public statement on the case in three years, said: ‘The firm denies the facts of the case and is aggrieved we’ve been denied the opportunity to challenge them over the last three years. Associative discrimination was specifically excluded when the DDA became law and the ECJ has only now ruled it should be included.’

City firm Bates Wells & Braithwaite employment partner Lucy McLynn, who represented Coleman throughout the proceedings, said the case was a ‘great victory for common sense and for legal clarity, as well as for Sharon personally’.