Overview
People are legally protected from discrimination in the workplace and in larger society by the Equality Act of 2010.
The Equality Act 2010 replaced over 116 separate pieces of legislation with a simpler single piece of legislation. The 9 main pieces of legislation that were merged to create the new Act are:
- The Equal Pay Act 1970
- The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
- The Race Relations Act 1976
- The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
- The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
- The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
- The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
- The Equality Act 2006, Part 2
- The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007
This merging of the above Acts and Regulations made legislation around equality more easily understandable by consolidating earlier anti-discrimination statutes into a single Act. It provides the UK with a discrimination law which will protect individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.
- Overview
- Who Is Protected From Discrimination?
- Types Of Discrimination
- Direct Discrimination
- Indirect Discrimination
- Harassment
- Victimisation
- What Does This Mean For Me?
- Help & Advice
- References
Who Is Protected From Discrimination?
Under the Equality Act (2010), it is against the law to discriminate against anyone due to a new set of ‘protected characteristics’. The protected characteristics are:
- Age
- Gender reassignment
- Being married or in a civil partnership
- Being pregnant or on maternity leave
- Disability
- Race, including colour of their skin, nationality, ethnic or national origin
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
As part of the Act, there are certain provisions that came into force to protect people from discrimination outside of the above protected characteristics. These include:
- Extending protection against indirect discrimination to disability
- Introducing the concept of “discrimination arising from disability” to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment
- Applying the detriment model to victimisation protection (aligning with the approach in employment law)
- Harmonising the thresholds for the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people
- Extending protection against harassment of employees by third parties to all protected characteristics
- Making it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health
Types Of Discrimination
There are 4 main types of discrimination:
Direct Discrimination
This means treating one person worse than another person because of a protected characteristic. For example, a promotion comes up at work. The employer believes that people’s memories get worse as they get older so doesn’t tell one of his older employees about it, because he thinks the employee wouldn’t be able to do the job.
Indirect Discrimination
This can happen when an organisation puts a rule or a policy or a way of doing things in place which has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic than someone without one. For example a local authority is planning to redevelop some of its housing. It decides to hold consultation events in the evening. Many of the female residents complain that they cannot attend these meetings because of childcare responsibilities.
Harassment
This means people cannot treat you in a way that violates your dignity, or creates a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. For example a man with Down’s syndrome is visiting a pub with friends. The bar staff make derogatory and offensive comments about him, which upset and offend him.
Victimisation
This means people cannot treat you unfairly if you are taking action under the Equality Act (like making a complaint of discrimination), or if you are supporting someone else who is doing so. For example, an employee makes a complaint of sexual harassment at work and is dismissed as a consequence.
What Does This Mean For Me?
Under the Equality Act 2010, you are protected from discrimination when you are at your work place, when you use public services such as healthcare, when you use businesses and other organisations that provide services and goods (shops, restaurants, cinemas). Also when you use transport, when joining a club or when in contact with public bodies such as your local council or government departments.
Help & Advice
If you want to know more about this, or enquire about any specifics related to this, please contact our Enquiries service on enquiries@buds.org.uk.
If you feel like you have been discriminated against, and would like further advice, you can contact the BuDS Victim Support Service and Third Party Reporting Service on hatecrimesupport@buds.org.uk.
You can also contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service on 0808 800 0082, or using the contact form on their website. Please note that this is an external service not connected to BuDS, and as such we are not responsible for any content or advice they may give.
References
The full legislation is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/your-rights-under-equality-act-2010