What happened
Matthew Furlong — a physics graduate whose father served in the same force — applied to be a police constable with Cheshire Police. He passed the assessment centre and the interview. Then he was told he had been unsuccessful.
The force had decided to treat every candidate who cleared the interview as “equally qualified”, so it could apply the Equality Act’s section 159 “tie-breaker” and prefer candidates with protected characteristics it wanted more of.
What the tribunal found
Section 159 allows an employer to prefer a candidate from an under-represented group only when candidates genuinely are as qualified as each other — a detailed, reasoned, individual comparison, not a blanket deeming.
The tribunal found Cheshire Police’s approach was exactly that blanket deeming. It ruled the force had directly discriminated against Mr Furlong because he was a white heterosexual male — race, sex and sexual orientation, all three.
It was the first reported employment tribunal case in England and Wales on positive action in recruitment. The claimant won.
Why it matters
Furlong is the case that draws the legal line: “positive action” that manufactures a tie is positive discrimination, and it is unlawful. Every HR department in the country should know this judgment. Most candidates it happens to never find out.