The prohibition of unfair discrimination: applying Section 3(d) of the Employment Equity Act

Abstract

Introduction: This chapter sets out to examine the concept of “unfair discrimination” in the employment context as it has evolved over the past three decades. It will note the efforts made by the courts to clarify it and suggest that, in the process, the opposite may have happened. And it will argue that much of this endeavour was unnecessary because, all the time, an answer was readily at hand. Since 1998 at least a peremptory signpost to that answer has been provided by section 3(d) of the Employment Equity Act of 1998 – hence the title above.