The new Equality Act 2010 which comes into force this October is the focus of this new blog post. Those supporting the bill see it as a way of consolidating law in this area into one single piece of legislation with the aim being to both simplify and standardise the law to make it easier to understand and to follow.
The main features of the new law are that there will be a single objective ‘justification’ test to replace the different tests currently in use and there will also be new rules in relation to gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and age.
The bill aims to tackle gender equality, mainly through transparency on pay and employers will no longer be able to take disciplinary action against staff who discuss and compare pay where this may be linked to discrimination. The bill also makes it unlawful for an employer to ask invasive questions about a potential employee’s health or disability in a recruitment process before deciding whether to offer them employment. Such questioning would only be allowed if it was intrinsically necessary for the role.
In sexual orientation and religion the act extends beyond the workplace to cover the provision of goods and services to consumers and age discrimination is also targeted in the new act which makes it unlawful to offer less favourable treatment on the grounds of age without justification.
The changes have been welcomed to the extent that the existing legislation is seen as inconsistent and difficult to interpret. However many also see difficulties ahead. The website Personnel Today claims that: “Many will have their work cut out, putting appropriate measures in place to reduce the risk of claims against them”. It has also been estimated, by the Equality Act Impact Assessment, that the cost of implementing the act will be in the region of 250m in the first year.
Further criticism came from an unlikely source when Pope Benedict was quoted as saying that the legislation imposed: “unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs”. He was thought to have been referring to the intended bar on discrimination against the employment of gay people.
The Equality Act 2010 has crept up almost unnoticed because of the election; however its effects will be long lasting.