Abstract

The author explains the important contribution given by the Court of Justice, in the "Seymour-Smith" case, to the specification of the concept of indirect sex discrimination. This decision, in fact, although not unexceptionable, gives, on one side, innovating and useful indications about the methods for the individuation of the disparate impact and, on the other, reinstates effectiveness of the control on the objective justification of the contested measure, demolishing the "myth" of the reasonableness of national rules adopted for social policy reasons. The opinion according to which the "Seymour-Smith" shows the intrinsic weakness of the prohibition of indirect discrimination as an instrument to assure sex equality at work, is, therefore, deeply criticised.