4.4  Legislation related to Equalities & Diversity (Appendix B)

Appendix B

Legislation related to Equalities & Diversity

The European Union has established a common framework to tackle unfair discrimination in fields of employment, self – employment, occupation and vocational training on six grounds:

• sex;
• race;
• sexual orientation;
• religion;
• age;
• disability.

The framework comprises three directives:

• The Race Directive 2000
• The Employment Directive 2000
• The Equal Treatment Directive 1975

To comply with these directives the government has:

• amended earlier race and sex discrimination through the Race Relations Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2000, Race Relations Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2003  and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2003
• introduced new legislation to ban discrimination on the grounds of religion and sexuality Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 and Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• introduced the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations 2003

Also all employers must be aware of their legal obligations, which include those under the following:

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
• Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999, amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1999

The Employment Equality (Age) 
The new legislation The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 came into force on 1st October 2006.  Itwill provide protection against age discrimination in employment and education for people of all ages. Find out about what protection this new law will givepeople aged 50+ and whatyour rights will be.

The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999

They are a measure to prevent discrimination against transsexual people on the grounds of sex in pay and treatment in employment and vocational training.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (EPA)

It gives an individual a right to the same contractual pay and benefits as a person of the opposite sex in the same employment, where the man and the woman are doing:

• Like work; or
• Work rated as equivalent under an analytical job evaluation study; or
• Work that is proved to be of equal value.

The employer will not be required to provide the same pay and benefits if they can prove that the difference in pay or benefits is genuinely due to a reason other than one related to sex.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

This Act gives disabled people rights in the areas of:

• employment
• access to goods, facilities and services
• buying or renting land or property.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA)

Prohibits sex discrimination against individuals in the areas of employment, education, and the provision of goods, facilities and services and in the disposal or management of premises.

It also prohibits discrimination in employment against married people.

It is not unlawful to discriminate against someone because they are not married. Victimisation because someone has tried to exercise their rights under the SDA or Equal Pay Act is prohibited.

The SDA applies to women and men of any age, including children.

Discriminatory advertisements are unlawful but only the Equal Opportunities Commission can take action against advertisers.

There are some general exceptions to when sex discrimination is unlawful. The main exceptions are:

• When a charity is providing a benefit to one sex only, in accordance with its charitable instrument.
• When people are competing in a sport in which the average woman is at a disadvantage to the average man because of physical strength, stamina or physique.
• In insurance where the discriminatory treatment reasonably relates to actuarial or other data.

The SDA applies to England, Wales and Scotland.

Race Relations Act

The Race Relations Act 1976, as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone on grounds of race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origin. The amended Act also imposes general duties on many public authorities to promote racial equality.

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 came into force on Monday 2 April 2001. It strengthens and extends the scope of the 1976 Race Relations Act; it does not replace it.

The summary of the 1976 Act given in this section incorporates the changes, which resulted from the 2000 Act.

The new Act strengthens the 1976 Act in two major ways:

• it extends protection against racial discrimination by public authorities
• it places a new, enforceable general duty on public authorities.
  

The general duty applies to all public authorities. The aim of the duty is to make the promotion of racial equality central to the work of the listed public authorities. The general duty also expects public authorities to take the lead in promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations, and preventing unlawful discrimination.

In practice, this means that listed public authorities must take account of racial equality in the day- to-day work of policy-making, service delivery, employment practice and other functions.