Britain’s six million carers won a landmark victory recently when the European Court of Justice upheld the right of a woman who was denied time off work to look after her disabled son.

Sharon Coleman, who was forced to resign her work as a legal secretary, claims that she suffered “discrimination by association” in breach of EU rules.

In a groundreaking ruling the European Court judges held that an EU Directive which outlaws discrimination at work on grounds of disability is not limited to disabled people themselves but extends also to those caring for them.

The ruling also reinforces the previous law that any discrimination at work by association - whether on grounds of religion or belief, age or sexual orientation is also prohibited.

The case, which was backed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, could see a huge extension in flexible and part-time working.

It will force employers to ensure that any flexible working policies they offer apply across the board and include those with caring responsibilities - an estimated one in four people in the workforce.

You will see a lot of editorial in the media about this landmark ruling for good reason (This one from The Times is typical). The importance cannot be over-emphasised! Britain already has the longest paid maternal leave in the world. This soon to be increased to be one year. Already, the "inconvenient truth" that this fact combined with the rapid trend to flexible working is contributing to some employers thinking twice about employing women of childearing age.

The burden and uncertainty on SME employers in particular of funding this flexible working regime over which they will have no control, points them firmly in this direction. The double whammy is that anti- discrimination legislation makes it impossible discretely to make this policy decision.

Government statistics point to a recent downward trend in the number of women in full-time work and a reduction of women in senior management. This would suggest that the dream of being a corporate high-flier is losing its appeal for women with children. Presumably therefore, there must be more satisfying options for them.

The Government must be wondering how they have managed to grab this tiger by the tail. This unlooked for trend can only be put down to the fact that social engineering by legislation is perhaps not the way to go to promote fairness in the workplace as they have insufficient control over the process.

What is an employer to do? Well, one thing is for sure - do not form policies and strategies that make you discriminate in the workplace. Experience shows that sooner or later, this legislation will come back and bite you hard. The best answer that can be put forward is to provide a workplace that has genuine communication and well briefed supervisors.

In the meantime, let all employers hope that the government policy makers don't panic and make further changes just for short-term benefits and to increase their "electability." A well thought out long term policy that benefits both sides in the work place is desperately needed in UK PLC.

This article has been written by Philip Norris, Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Norris Management Ltd. He has a wide experience in providing specialist advice on the management, organision of and the development of people in the workplace for SME clients.