Supreme Court decision on gender starts to have ripple effects in the Sporting world

Only a few weeks after the Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers ,where the Supreme Court held that the definitions in the Equality Act refer to biological sex, we have seen the ripple effects of this decision in the sporting world.

Transgender women are to be banned from women's teams from 1 June 2025, and therefore their employment will be terminated with immediate effect from this date. 

Kathryn Walters, Senior Associate in our Taunton Employment Team comments that:

"This, like the Supreme Court decision, is likely to divide opinion, but what is certain is that it brings to to fore the perhaps less common fair reason for dismissal of illegality / statutory restriction. In such cases employers must show that the employee's continued employment would actually contravene a statutory restriction. It is not sufficient to rely on reasonable belief. 

With day one unfair dismissal rights on the horizon under the Employment Rights Bill, it is more important than ever that employers know how and when they can rely on this dismissal reason." 

If you would like to advice on this or any aspect of employment law, please reach out to me.