• in order to establish a claim for indirect sex discrimination a claimant must be able to identify a specific pool of workers, properly defined by the evidence, so that the proportions of men and women affected can be compared; and
  
• in order to establish a sex discrimination claim the claimant must show disparate treatment as between men and women rather than a self-inflicted detriment

editor's notes:

1. new rules introduced with effect from 1st October 2005 make the "pool of workers" part of this decision obsolete (see Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/2467 reg 3 and notes at Sex discrimination/2005 and 2008 amendments ).
   
2. an appeal in this case was heard by the Court of Session at end 2005 - decision currrently awaited (August 2006)

For relevant general notes see Sex discrimination/burden of proof and/or Sex discrimination/indirect discrimination .