A question of religion or orientation: Hall & Preddy v Bull and the possible effect of the Equality Act 2010

A consideration of the interplay of religion and sexual orientation discrimination following decisions in recent English cases and the potential impact of the Equality Act 2010 on notions of direct and indirect discrimination. Article by James Hand and Pat Feast (School of Law, University of Portsmouth) published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)

Discrimination-free insurance pricing

We consider the following question: given information on individual policyholder characteristics, how can we ensure that insurance prices do not discriminate with respect to protected characteristics, such as gender? We address the issues of direct and indirect discrimination, the latter resulting from implicit learning of protected characteristics from non-protected ones. We provide rigorous mathematical definitions for direct and indirect discrimination, and we introduce a simple formula for discrimination-free pricing, that avoids both direct and indirect discrimination. Our formula works in any statistical model. We demonstrate its application on a health insurance example, using a state-of-the-art generalized linear model and a neural network regression model. An important conclusion is that discrimination-free pricing in general requires collection of policyholders’ discriminatory characteristics, posing potential challenges in relation to policyholder’s privacy concerns

Framework for Identification and Prevention of Direct and Indirect Discrimination using Data mining

Extraction of useful and important information from huge collection of data is known as data mining. Negative social perception about data mining is also there, among which potential privacy invasion and potential discrimination are there. Discrimination involves unequally or unfairly treating people on the basis of their belongings to a specific group. Automated data collection and data mining techniques like classification rule mining have made easier to make automated decisions, like loan granting/denial, insurance premium computation, etc. If the training data sets are biased in what regards discriminatory (sensitive) attributes like age, gender, race, religion, etc., discriminatory decisions may ensue. For this reason, antidiscrimination techniques including discrimination discovery, identification and prevention have been introduced in data mining. Discrimination may of two types, either direct or indirect. Direct discrimination is the one where decisions are taken on basis of sensitive attributes. Indirect discrimination is the one where decisions are made based on non-sensitive attributes which are strongly correlated with biased sensitive ones. In this paper, we are dealing with discrimination prevention in data mining and propose new methods applicable for direct or indirect discrimination prevention individually or both at the same time. We discuss how to clean training data sets and transformed data sets in such a way that direct and/or indirect discriminatory decision rules are converted to legitimate (non-discriminatory) classification rules. We also propose new measures and metrics to analyse the utility of the proposed approaches and we compare these approaches

The concept of disability discrimination and its legal construction

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key issues surrounding the legal construction of the concept of discrimination based on disability. This paper examines these issues in the context of the European Community’s framework directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation , in order to highlight the particular needs which must be addressed in developing laws to combat such discrimination. Where relevant, the paper contrasts the approach necessary for disability based discrimination with the traditional approach in relation to sex and race discrimination. The paper therefore examines the following areas: (i) the purpose of enacting non-discrimination laws in the context of disability; (ii) the definition of ‘disability’ as a ground of discrimination; (iii) the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination; and (iv) the duty to provide reasonable accommodations.</p

The past 40 years have seen significant divergence between the US and UK around the law on indirect discrimination

At the end of June, the United States Supreme Court’s ruling Texas Department of Housing v Inclusive Communities Project held that the Fair Housing Act prohibited both direct and indirect discrimination based on race. Tarunabh Khaitan writes that since the 1970s, the US has focused on the discriminators while in the UK, the impact of a policy on the victim, not the intent of those making it, has become much more important

Discrimination Revised: Reviewing the Relationship between Social Groups, Disparate Treatment, and Disparate Impact

It is usually accepted that whether or not indirect discrimination is a form of immoral discrimination, it appears to be structurally different from direct discrimination. First, it seems that either one involves the agent focusing on different things while making a decision. Second, it seems that the victim’s group membership is relevant to the outcomes of either sort of action in different ways. In virtue of these two facts, it is usually concluded that indirect discrimination is structurally different from direct discrimination. I argue against the notion that indirect discrimination and direct discrimination have significantly different structures. I first argue that both kinds of discrimination involve similar decision-making processes. Second, I analyze how being in a social group affects personal identity, and from there argue that indirect discrimination and direct discrimination are about group membership similarly. In virtue of these two arguments, I conclude that direct and indirect discrimination are structurally similar

A igualdade dos sexos no acceso ao emprego, en especial nas leis galegas de igualdade

[Resumo] Análise das medidas contra a discriminación sexista, e a súa proxección no ámbito do mercado laboral, contidas nas leis galegas sobre igualdade con especial referencia á discriminación directa e indirecta, así como ás medidas de acción positiva e igualdade de oportunidades.[Abstract] Analysis of the measures against gender discrimination, and their effects on the labour market contained in the Galician equality acts. With special reference to direct and indirect discrimination, as well as positive action and equal opportuniy measure

A critical assessment of the impact of the 2000 equality directives on Greece

Greece transposed the 2000 equality directives through Law 3304/2005. This law sets out the definitions of direct and indirect discrimination, designates what conduct should be prohibited, outlines the sanctions that are to be imposed by the judiciary and mandates three equality bodies with the duty of upholding and promoting equal treatment. This article argues that notwithstanding the theoretical significance of this law given that it was the first tool specifically designed to grant legislative protection for the principle of equal treatment, its practical effects are limited

Indirect discrimination by association - An analysis of the Court of Justice of the European Union's judgement in "CHEZ RB" (C-83/14)

This paper deals with EU anti-discrimination law. On the basis of the ECJ’s judgment in “CHEZ RB” the paper examines the distinction between direct and indirect discrimination and analyses the scope of the concept of discrimination by association, acknowledged, for the first time, in the ECJ’s judgment in “Coleman”. Emphasis will be put on the question whether the ECJ has established discrimination by association as a general concept in EU anti-discrimination law, valid for all types of discrimination, direct or indirect, and irrespective of the referred ground or the degree of association