The Equality Act 2010 - What will this mean for you?

The Equality Act 2010 was the political brainchild of Gordon Brown’s Labour Government and it is therefore cloaked with that Government’s desire to address what it perceived as continued inequality within our society.  It is the first major piece of legislation on discrimination for some years and one of its key aims is to harmonise all anti-discrimination legislation introduced over the years, starting with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and culminating most recently in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. 

Just to recap, discrimination is currently unlawful on grounds of sex (including pregnancy and maternity), marital status (including civil partnership status), gender reassignment, disability, race, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief or any lack of religion or belief.  This is in addition to similar protection given under other legislation to trade union members or non-members, fixed-term workers and part-time workers.  The Equality Act will not extend the prohibited types of discrimination but will nevertheless signal the following key changes for employers and employees when it comes into force. 

• Employers may be held liable for harassment by staff members on grounds of disability, sexual orientation, race, etc. This is in addition to current similar liability for sexual harassment.
• Whereas employers are currently prevented from discriminating against Fred because his brother is gay (otherwise known as discrimination by association on grounds of sexual orientation), employers must also now ensure that they do not refuse to give Claire promotion because she cares for her very old mother (known as discrimination by association on grounds of age).  In a similar way, the new Act allows Mary to bring a discrimination claim if she is harassed because of her husband’s religious beliefs (and, yes, a belief in climate change can now amount to a religious belief - so beware of refusing promotion to the cycle-crazy environmentalist – especially in Cambridge!) and it will also allow Gary to bring a claim because he has been harassed because his colleagues think he is gay (even if he isn’t). 

• Positive discrimination will be allowed so that employers can recruit or promote someone from an underrepresented group where they have a choice between two equally suitable candidates. 
• In an effort to shrink the pay gap between men and women, employers will not be allowed to insert “gagging” clauses in contracts or handbooks preventing employees from discussing their pay with colleagues. 

• Employment Tribunals will be able to make recommendations to employers who have lost discrimination claims as to how they might address equality issues. However, where this is designed to benefit the workforce in general, there is no remedy for an employer’s failure to comply with the recommendations.

• Protection for disabled employees is to be increased back to pre-Malcolm case levels so that a “disabled” employee who is dismissed because he has had excessive absence due to his disability will again be protected, subject to the employer’s ability to justify the dismissal on objective grounds.  The employer will no longer be able to argue successfully that he would have dismissed any other employee with the same level of absence.  Once again, a disability will give an employee special protection.

• Age discrimination will be extended to cover the provision of goods and services.  

With a change of Government, larger employers may now breathe a sigh of relief as they may escape the obligation to publish information relating to employees’ pay and benefits with the purpose of revealing differences in the pay of male and female employees.  The Conservative Party previously announced their opposition to this provision, although we are still waiting for the Coalition to reveal its colours. 

And when, you might ask, is the Equality Act coming into force?  I am afraid there is no straight answer to this.  Whilst the current Government is maintaining that the Equality Act’s main provisions will still come into force on 1 October this year, it has somewhat confusingly added that some of the Act’s provisions will come into force “at different times”.  It is still unclear precisely which provisions will be implemented next month.  For further news on the implementation timetable, watch this space.

If you have any questions about discrimination or require any advice, please contact Katy Adcock on 01223 417200

The information given in this article is of a general nature only and should not be considered as advice applicable to any particular situation for which specific request should be made to us.

"I would like to thank Sarah Payne for her patient and professional approach. It took away a lot of the stress knowing that my case was in more than capable hands."
Caroline Turner, Checkendon

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