Introducing the Equality Act 2010 - 1 October 2010

Date Added: 28 September 2010

The Equality Act 2010 provides a new legislative framework for protecting individuals against discrimination on the basis of recognised protected characteristics, and most of it is being brought into force from 1 October 2010.

Its aims are to simplify existing anti-discrimination legislation, doing away with the inconsistent approaches adopted in previous Acts, and making the framework for protection more accessible, both for businesses and for individuals.

The protected characteristics under the Act are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or Belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The main provisions coming into effect from 1 October 2010 are:

• The basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions, premises, work, education, associations, and transport.
• Levelling up protection for people discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic, so providing new protection for people like carers.
• Extending protection from indirect discrimination to disability.
• Introducing a new concept of discrimination arising from disability, to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment.
• Harmonising the thresholds for the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
• Extending protection from 3rd party harassment 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.
• Allowing hypothetical comparators for direct gender pay discrimination.

The changes brought about by the Act should enhance and simplify the rights of the individual not to be discriminated against on the basis of any of the protected characteristics. The new legal framework will, however, be subject to close scrutiny over the comings months and years.

If you believe that you have been discriminated against, or wanted advice about how the provisions of the Equality Act may affect your business, please contact the Employment team on 01233 625711 or alternatively email m.self@hallettandco.co.uk

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