Introduction

In its entirety this book argues, from both social justice and business case perspectives, that discrimination at work is an experience that continues to blight the lives of thousands of workers each year despite four decades of equality legislation. However the message is not a negative one. Most of the chapters offer insights about existing positive international and domestic developments and make suggestions for the ways that positive change can be realised – using the law or not. Reflecting these aims, the book is structured in three parts; Part I provides the legal background including a critical analysis of the law as it, until recently, existed, as it currently stands and how it may be developed in the future; Part II provides analyses of discrimination in the workplace in relation to the main strands protected by the legislation; Part III, contains chapters that examine novel and innovative approaches to combating discrimination at work and looks forward to how these may be further developed to contend with inequality. In Chapter 1, Sonia McKay provides the historical background and antecedents of the legislative framework for equality in the UK. McKay examines key legal concepts such as less favourable treatment, direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Her analysis particularly highlights how the limits of Statute law result in complex and often contradictory case law, which in turn results in poor outcomes at employment tribunals for victims of discrimination. McKay also illustrates how cumbersome the anti-discrimination law was and how difficult it had become for employers to interpret and implement.