Hazel Carty

The Sex Discrimination Act 1986: equality or employment deregulation?

Abstract The Sex Discrimination Act 1986 amends the 1975 Act of the same title. Two recent decisions of the European Court of Justice have shaped this Act. Both these decisions concerned the E.E.C. Equal Treatment Directive which prohibits direct or indirect discrimination in selection, promotion, vocational training and working conditions. In the first decision,2 the E.C.J, held that the exceptions contained in the 1975 Act concerning private households and small employers were too general and infringed the Directive. The absence in the 1975 Act of provisions covering collective agreements or rules or undertakings/ professions was also held to be unjustified. This decision required the government to legislate to remedy the defects of the national legislation and led to the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Bill. During the passage of this Bill the E.C.J, delivered its “bombshell decision” in Marshall v. Southampton and S.W. Hampshire A.H.A 3 This decided that it was contrary to the Directive for an...

Formal investigations and the efficacy of anti-discrimination legislation

Abstract The two White Papers1 which paved the way for the Sex Discrimination Act 197S and the Race Relations Act 1976 underlined the need for an agency to monitor and enforce the discrimination laws. Individual grievances, though part of the enforcement procedure, could not be relied upon to counter the evil of discrimination because such grievances tend to be random in operation and impact. As Racial Discrimination noted “most victims do not complain. Many do not know that they, have suffered discrimination. Others are reluctant to complain because they do not want to relive the humiliation they have suffered or because they have no confidence in the effectiveness of the complaints procedure or redress which it is likely to provide for them.” Thus it was stated to be essential that the law should be enforced in the public interest by the two bodies established by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and Race Relations Act 1976: the Equal Opportunities Commission (E.O.C.) and the Commission for Racial Equalit...

Overseas Visitors and the NHS

Abstract In 1982 regulations1 were passed for the first time requiring health authorities to make and recover charges for N.H.S. hospital services from certain overseas visitors. The purpose of this article is to explore these regulations, note the effect of judicial interpretation and question the wisdom of the new system.