Discrimination case won, again

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 13

Discrimination case won, again

NZPA-AAP London A woman police constable who was thought to be too attractive has finally won her sex discrimination battle against the police, but it took an ultimatum to do it. • Constable Wendy de Launay has been assured by the Metropolitan Police that she will return to patrol car duties, after she threatened to take them back to an industrial tribunal. Constable de Launay, aged 25, was taken off car duties and put back on the beat after her officer decided she was too pretty to share a patrol ear with a married male colleague.

An industrial tribunal in December recommended that she be put back on patrol car duties. But Constable de Launay accused her employer of taking no notice of the tribunal decision. "So my solicitor told them that unless they offered something, we would take the case straight back to the tribunal and ask it to issue an order to the police. “As if by magic, it worked.” She will still have to wait some time and will not return to the traffic division until January 6 next year.