ABSTRACT
In most western jurisdictions, discrimination law prohibits direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, and harassment, on protected grounds, such as race, sex, etc. This chapter explores the problem in Britain, with some useful illustrations from the United States, highlighting the fuzzy borders created by the sympathetic courts. Although the Equality Act 2010, and its predecessors, covers employment, services, public functions, housing, and education, the cases on the victimisation dilemma centre on employment. However, the practical benefit of a benign motive defence is that it provides a compromise of sorts to the victimisation dilemma. The requirement for any other detriment principally is the catch-all phrase to ensure that the treatment was employment-related. The consistent factor in Khan and St Helens is the House of Lords’ sympathy with the ‘reasonable’ employer’s dilemma. It poses more policy questions than it solves.
