Pay v Lancashire Probation Service [2004] IRLR 129

Plaintiff worked for Defendant (PA) with sex offenders.

He was sacked because he was involved in sado-masochism and he claimed that if the dismissal was not deemed unfair, then that would be an interference with his freedom of expression under Article 10, which PAs have to respect under s.6 HRA.

EAT accepted that a PA would be deemed to dismiss a person unfair if the dismissal breached Plaintiff’s ECHR rights.

• However here the right was not breached because the infringement was justified under Article 10(2) since it was proportionate.

• It said there could be no claim on the grounds of breach of privacy since his actions were public (he put videos of himself on the internet, performed in clubs, etc.)