Everyone to be Equal

After 4 years of debate and consultation the apparently “long-awaited” Equality Bill was published on 24th April.

The Bill brings together and re-states the existing discrimination legislation concerning sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age, and seeks to adopt a single approach where appropriate.

The Bill will be debated further with the potential for amendment and is not expected to actually come into force in autumn 2010, however, it is important that employers are aware of its implications before then.

The Government says that the new Bill has two main aims, the first being to combine all of the existing and extensive discrimination legislation into one single statute and the second aim being to strengthen the law to support progress on equality.

Sounds clear and simple enough, but let’s face it, its employment law, so it won’t be will it !

Much of the Bill aims to replicate and simplify existing discrimination and equal pay law, but there are also significant changes.

These include:-

1. new types of disability discrimination claims
2. claims for gender pay discrimination based on hypothetical comparators
3. claims for direct discrimination and harassment based on "association" and "perception"
4. the widening of the scope of "positive action" to allow employers to choose between two equally-qualified candidates by selecting one from an under-represented minority
5. new right for Secretary of State to order employers with more than 250 employees to publish information about salary levels for male and female staff, particularly where disparities
6. new duties on public bodies to consider socio-economic disadvantages in making strategic decisions and ensuring equality to age discrimination
7. the outlawing of clauses in employment contracts which prevent employees discussing their pay packages

Still undecided

The Government has yet to reach a conclusion on the following two important issues:

• Whether to make specific provision for multiple (or intersectional) discrimination e.g. a sex and race discrimination claim.
• Whether to allow representative actions by bodies such as trade unions and the EHRC on behalf of a group of unnamed individuals.

Those who have actually made time to read the Bill in depth have concluded that apart from the more controversial proposals about positive action, gender pay reporting and hypothetical equal pay comparators, the Bill is largely a long-overdue and sensible attempt to consolidate and simplify existing discrimination laws and, to that extent, should benefit both employers and employees. Only time will tell if the new Equality Bill will actually mean that everyone will be treated as an equal.

This article is provided for general interest and is not intended to be a definitive analysis of legal and/or other changes. Seek professional advice before taking any course of action.