Kicked off a job - can they do this - is it discrimination?

[Balletgirlmum]

A colleague has had problems at work.

We work for a company who are on the approved list of contractors for a local hospital. My colleague has worked on that site on numerous occasions over the years. He has had a DBS check.

A few years ago he was in a relationship with a girl & it didn't work out. He left her & hasn't seen her for 2 and a half years.

This week he turned up to work & was told by a member of hospital senior management/security to leave site immediately. It turns out that his ex girlfriend also works there along with another member of her family who is very senior. She has kicked off & said that seeing him is too emotionally upsetting & so he has been told he is not allowed on that site at all.

He's had to go home as there is no other work. Our company is perplexed. He's one of the best qualified & reliable workers. My own brother has known him since they were at school together.

Absolutely nothing evidence of wrongdoing has been given except that the sight of him upsets her.

Can they do this?

[Balletgirlmum]

Ok - so my boss has taken legal advice & it seems there is nothing we can do.

[HereIAm20]

He is still employed by the company that employs him but it is a client who has asked for him not to attend. In what way would it be discrimination?

[Balletgirlmum]

Well it isn't apparently. It's not fair but it's acceptable.

I wondered if it could be seen as sex discrimination perhaps. (If a man asked that a female worker be banned from site becsuse she ended a relationship with him over 2 years ago would people would be up in arms?)

She was a bit unstable apparently & he ended the relationship partly due to her alcohol issues.

[prh47bridge]

If a man asked that a female worker be banned from site becsuse she ended a relationship with him over 2 years ago would people would be up in arms

They might be but it still wouldn't be sex discrimination.

Your colleague hasn't been banned just because he is a man. He has been banned because the hospital believes allowing him on site would be a breach of their duty of care towards their employee.

We don't know what she has told the hospital that resulted in this ban (nor do we know what really happened in their relationship - you only have your colleagues word for it. You don't know her side of it). However, it is only sex discrimination if similar allegations against a female contractor would be treated differently.