A good loss: R (Amicus - MSF section) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
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R (on the application of Amicus - MSF section and others) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Christian Action Research Education and others [2004] IRLR 430 HC (0 other reports)
The overwhelming majority of discrimination law cases are unsuccessful. If the decision is not one of an employment tribunal, it will be a binding precedent. Some of the unsuccessful cases probably should never have been brought in the first place, and applicants in general are worse off because they were pursued. Zafar v Glasgow City Council (EOR 72) is an example that comes to mind. That decision by the House of Lords tightened the test for drawing inferences of unlawful discrimination. The case was about whether the council discriminated when it dismissed Abdur Zafar for being a serial sexual harasser. It is hard to believe that those facts had no influence on the outcome, and the legal principles set out.
