Should B&Bs be allowed to discriminate?

[deejayburnout]

But you can legally discriminate on marital status.

You can get tax relief if you are married. This discriminates against non married people. All legal and above board.

[Willzzz]

And in this case the court found that this wasn't the case, it found that they were treated differently because they were gay.

They are still allowed to refuse guests for any lawful reason. In doubt seek legal advice...

You are suggesting every B&B should have a lawyer on call? Sounds expensive.

[kalniel]

And in this case the court found that this wasn't the case, it found that they were treated differently because they were gay.

That's the key point here. They tried to argue that they were discriminating on marital status, but from what I can tell, they didn't try especially hard to assess marital status for straight people (often assumption that they were married), and made no attempt to assess marital status for the gay couple (100% assumption of unmarried - pop open one of the previous Hexus debate about civil partnership vs marriage, for interest). So while the judge noted their claimed intention, the court might have thought that they applied these intentions unequally between gay and straight people, hence discrimination.

[Unique]

You are suggesting every B&B should have a lawyer on call? Sounds expensive.

they should be aware of key legal issues from day one, with this policy being on in particular. however if they were members of the federation of small businesses, which would be at a very small fee for such a small company, they would have lawyers (not one, but many, specialising in many parts of business law, including employment law) on call at no additional charge, and in some cases at least they provide in addition some legal insurance if you follow their advice and it turns out further action is required, such as representation in court.

thus, it's not expensive at all

[Unique]

But you can legally discriminate on marital status.

If B&B owners weren't allowed to refuse any guests for any reason then an awful lot of people would have to rethink.

but the fact remains that they didn't. they accepted the booking that was made in advance. they then turned away the couple when they turned up. they didn't have another room to offer them, so the couple weren't allowed to stay at all

[OilSheikh]

As long as you dont racially or religiously discriminate, I am OK with it.

[Unique]

As long as you dont racially or religiously discriminate, I am OK with it.

i presume you forgot about sex and disability discrimination? but what about age discrimination? all are illegal in the UK

[peterb]

You can get tax relief if you are married. This discriminates against non married people. All legal and above board.

Married man's tax relief was abolished some years ago.

[Unique]

Married man's tax relief was abolished some years ago.

but if you are over 77, and married before 2005 and still married, you can still take advantage of it. i'm sure there are hundreds of hexus members living it up

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/married-allow.htm

but the reality is that most forms of discrimination are completely legal, only a few types are illegal in the UK. so if you have something against gingers, you don't need to employ them. if someone has a beard, you don't need to employ them. long haired hippy, that's ok, you don't need to employ them. squinty eyes? no problem, they probably couldn't even fill in the paperwork anyways

we don't have complete freedom of speech in the UK, as is the same in most countries, even though many think they do, and discrimination laws similarly have parts where it is legal to have different rules for men/women, straight/gay, race, age and disability. but that's the point, it's legal, and there are reasons behind it. it would be crazy to pay child allowance to a 70 year old, or disability allowance to a perfectly fit person