Horsey v Dyfed County Council [1982] IRLR 395 is a UK labour law case, concerning the test for causation of discrimination.
Mrs Horsey was a Trainee Social Worker with Dyfed County Council, living in Aberystwyth.
Her husband subsequently got a job in London so he could live with her whilst she completed the two-year course.
This was found to be on the basis of a ‘generalised assumption that married women follow their husband’s jobs.’ Browne Wilkinson J held that Mrs Horsey had been discriminated against through this stereotyping.
He said the words ‘on the grounds of’ in the SDA 1975 cover ‘cases where the alleged discriminator acts on generalised assumptions as to the characteristics of women or married or coloured persons’ and not just where ‘the sole factor influencing the decision of the alleged discriminator is the sex, marital status or race of the complainant’.