Feds challenge nurse-discrimination ruling

The federal government has asked the Federal Court to review a landmark ruling last month that found it has been discriminating against a group of federal nurses on the basis of their gender - female - for more than three decades.

But the nurses' lawyer, Lawrence Armstrong, says it's unclear whether the government is serious about challenging the ruling or is merely using the threat as a bargaining tactic.

The December ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the 430 mostly female nurses, who determine the eligibility of applicants for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits, perform the same core functions as predominantly male CPP doctors paid about twice as much. Under the Canadian Human Rights Act, it is illegal to treat a female dominated group differently from a male-dominated group when both perform the same, or substantially similar, work.