A sex, race or disability discriminatory act done by an employer can be unlawful even if it was done after the employee's employment has ended. The same is true of other acts done by an employer as a result of which an ex-employee suffers a detriment contrary to the Employment Rights Act 1996.

This is the effect of the House of Lords decision in Rhys-Harper v Relaxion Group plc HL 2003 UKHL 33 on 19th June 2003 (heard by the House of Lords with 5 other cases D'Souza v London Borough of Lambeth; Jones v 3M Healthcare Limited; Kirker v British Sugar Plc; Bond v Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Angel v NHS Possibilities NHS Trust)) combined with the decision of the Court of Appeal in Woodward v Abbey National plc CA 2006 EWCA Civ 822 on 22nd June 2006. These decisions override previous decisions to the contrary by the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

The most obvious example of a situation in which these important rulings could be relevant is the giving of a reference for a former employee (see References for former employees/a general note ).

Amendments to sex, race and disability legislation have confirmed the position along the lines decided by the House of Lords on 19th June 2003 - see notes at Disability Discrimination/2003 Amendment Regulations (as from 1st October 2004) and/or Racial discrimination/2003 regulations (as from 19th July 2003) and/or Sex discrimination/2003 regulations (as from 19th July 2003).