On the other hand, if regulations are defined rigidly, then employers are obliged to take certain costly actions that confer little or no benefits upon persons in class C. For instance, such laws may require that businesses provide highly expensive handicapped facilities on every floor of a building, even where there are no handicapped employees. Compliance with such Procrustean requirements, of course, diminishes the supplies of goods and services throughout an economy.

In order to avoid such anomalies, anti-discrimination laws may be defined in a conditional manner: if members of class C are hired, then certain facilities must be installed. Since the installation of facilities imposes significant costs, regulations of this form create an economic incentive to avoid hiring workers in class C at all. Thus this kind of anti-discrimination regulation directly contributes to employment discrimination against the unfortunate members of class C—an effect essentially opposite to that intended.