November 29, 2010
The Equality Act was implemented on October 1 as a consolidating Act designed to replace and reform existing discrimination and equality laws. It covers issues such as disability, gender pay discrimination and discrimination on grounds of race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.
The Act makes it easier for employees to know their rights, by harmonising existing laws and setting them out in a clearer manner.
The implementation of the Act, in combination with the Government’s spending cuts, which have forced employers to make redundancies, therefore make it likely that employers will see a marked rise in employment cases against them, at least initially, when workers and their legal advisors are testing the boundaries of the legislation.
It is therefore hugely important that employers herald the new Act by conducting a thorough review of their HR policies and terms and conditions of employment and taking legal advice where necessary to ensure that they are compliant with the law.
However, some of the more radical parts of the draft Act have been removed by the current Government, including provisions to render pay secrecy orders unenforceable and encouraging employers to positively discriminate in the recruitment process, for example by considering the social and economic circumstances of applicants.
