THE LAW : European Community law has, like the UK, adopted a twin track approach. The first track asks whether disadvantageous treatment of pregnant women is sex discrimination in contravention of the Equal Treatment Directive (76/207/EEC). second track, manifested especially in the Pregnant Workers Directive, grants direct rights to such workers irrespective of discrimination. That Directive was incorporated

doi:10.4324/9781843145585-41

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ABSTRACT

Given that a man cannot get pregnant, remorseless logic unaffected by consideration of the purpose of the law would suggest that the dismissal of a woman because she is pregnant cannot therefore amount to sex discrimination. It was precisely this reasoning which prevailed in Turley v Allders Department Stores Ltd,5 the first such case to reach an appellate court. This ‘no comparison possible’ approach fell on exceptionally stony critical evaluation and proved very short-lived. The next approach, the ‘sick man’ standard, provided the first mechanism by which protection was granted, and it may still today be relevant in contexts other than dismissal.