A new era for equality law? Archibald v Fife Council reconsidered

Abstract

This paper considers the significance of the House of Lords’ landmark ruling in Archibald v Fife Council. The case was widely considered to mark a significant change in equality law, with many voices welcoming the judgement and others being more cautious. The most critical readings suggested that Archibald had for the first time introduced into British law the idea that an organization might have a duty to discriminate positively in favour of certain employees. This paper asks whether Archibald did indeed have such an effect? To reach that point three substantive matters are addressed: (1) the legal context, has statute been so hostile to any idea of positive discrimination?; (2) how different was Archibald from other cases where disability discrimination has been claimed?; (3) to what extent has Archibald been followed since? Before addressing these substantive questions the facts of the case are summarized along with the arguments on which it turned.