Equality Legislation
Equal Pay Act 1970 (EPA)
- The purpose of the Equal Pay Act is to eliminate discrimination between men and women in pay and other terms of their contracts of employment such as piecework, output, bonus payments, holidays and sick leave.
- It covers: like work, work rated as equivalent, work of equal value.
- It does not give anyone a right to claim equal pay with another person of the same sex.
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA)
- The Sex Discrimination Act makes it illegal to treat a woman or man less favourably on the grounds of their sex or marital status (ie whether they are married or not) in employment, training, education and the provision of goods, facilities and services to members of the public.
- This includes: in the selection process; the terms on which a job is offered; choosing a successful applicant; in opportunities for promotion; transfers or training; in benefits granted by an employer; in dismissals, disciplinary hearings or other unfair treatment of employees.
The Gender Reassignment Regulations 1999 (GRR)
- Came into force on 1st May 1999
- Extends the SDA to cover discrimination in employment and vocational training on grounds of gender reassignment.
- “Gender reassignment” is defined by the SDA as “…a process, which is undertaken under medical supervision for the purposes of reassigning a person’s sex by changing physiological or other characteristics of sex, and includes any part of such a process.”
- The Regulations do not cover the provision of goods, facilities or service.
The Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA)
The Race Relations Act 1976 makes it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins in the fields of:
· Employment;
· Training and related matters;
· Education
· The provision of goods, facilities and services;
· Accommodation.
This includes:
· The selection process;
· The terms on which the job is offered;
· Choosing a successful applicant;
· In opportunities for promotion;
· Transfers or training;
· In benefits granted by an employer;
· In dismissals, disciplinary hearings or other unfair treatment of employees.
The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 (RRAA)
The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 places a ‘general duty’ on all public authorities eg Local Councils, Schools, Colleges, the Police etc to
· Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; and
· Promote equality of opportunity; and
· Promote good race relations between persons of different racial groups.
Public authorities also have to have in place policies and action plans which set out how they are going to meet the duties mentioned above, and other more ‘specific’ duties placed upon them, such as staff training, monitoring their staff and customers by ethnic origin and ensuring that their policies and procedures do not have an adverse impact on one group of people in relation to another.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
This Act makes it illegal to treat someone with a disability less favourably than other people, unless there is a justifiable reason to do so. The courts will decide if this reason is justified.
The DDA affects:
· Employers and service providers
· Disabled people
· Landlords and others who are responsible for letting or selling property
A person is disabled if they have:
· “…a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.”
REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT
In order to help a disabled person to do the job, employers will have to decide what changes are necessary to the workplace or the ways the work is done, and make any changes that are reasonable. When considering what is reasonable, employers will take into account how much the changes would cost and how much they would help.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2000 (SENDA)
Also referred to as Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
SENDA is the part of the DDA that relates to Education.
It came into force in September 2002. It means that Colleges and Local Educational Authorities have legal responsibilities:
· Not to treat disabled learners less favourably for a reason related to their disability; and also
· To provide reasonable adjustments for disabled learners.
· These responsibilities apply to any service, which is provided specifically for students eg all teaching, catering facilities, outgoings and trips etc.
· The responsibilities are also ‘anticipatory’ which means that the likely needs of disabled learners must be anticipated and provision should be made in advance ie they should not just respond to the individual’s needs of one learner when the situation arises.
EU Employment Directive 2000
The Directive put in place a general framework for equal treatment in employment and vocational training and guidance. It is commonly called the Employment Directive.
It is designed to outlaw discrimination at work and training on grounds of age, sexual orientation, disability and religion or belief. It sets a framework, which will ensure that there are minimum standards for combating discrimination throughout the European Union.
How a directive works, is that a member state such as the UK, passed new legislation in its own country, to meet timescales in the European Directive. These dates are 2003 for Religion and Sexual Orientation and 2006 for Age.
In the UK discrimination on the grounds of Religion and Sexual Orientation became illegal in December 2003 and discrimination on the grounds of Age will be illegal by the end of 2006.
There have also been changes to the Disability Discrimination Act that take effect in October to account for the changes introduced in the Directive.
Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA)
Came into force on the 2nd October 2000.
Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that: “…the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.
All public authorities are required to adhere to the HRA.
This means that courts, which themselves are considered public authorities, will have to interpret domestic law in line with the HRA. This means that issues such as sexual orientation could have been ruled unlawful despite not being directly covered by UK legislation until December 2003.
Employment Equality Regulations 2003 Religions or Belief
The regulations apply to vocational training and all facets of employment including recruitment, terms and conditions, promotions, transfers, dismissals and training. They make it unlawful on the grounds of religion or belief to:
· Discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone because of their religion or belief;
· Subject someone to harassment;
· Victimise someone because they have made or intend to make a complaint or allegation or have given or intend to give evidence in relation to a complaint of discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief;
· Discriminate or harass someone in certain circumstances after the working relationship has ended.
Exceptions may be made in very limited circumstances if there is a genuine occupational requirement for the worker to be of a particular religion or belief in order to do the job or to comply with the religious or belief ethos of the organisation.
Religion or belief is defined as being any religion, religious belief or similar philosophical belief. This does not include any philosophical or political belief unless it is similar to religious belief. It will be for the Employment Tribunals and other Courts to decide whether particular circumstances are covers by the regulations.
Employment Equality Legislation 2003 Sexual Orientation
The regulations apply to all employment and vocational training and include recruitment, terms and conditions, promotions, transfers, dismissals and training. They make it unlawful on the grounds of sexual orientation to:
· Discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation;
· Subject someone to harassment;
· Victimise someone because they have made or intend to make a complaint or allegations or have given or intend to give evidence in relation to a complaint of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation;
· Discriminate against someone, in certain circumstances, after the working relationship has ended.
Within the regulations, sexual orientation is defined as:-
· Orientations towards persons of the same sex (lesbians or gay men)
· Orientation towards persons of the opposite sex (heterosexual)
· Orientation towards persons of the same sex and opposite sex (bisexual)