The Equality Act 2010
The majority of the Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010, with the rest of the Act, subject to some further consultation, being phased in beween 2011 and 2013.
Although its primary purpose is to harmonise and simplify the previous legislation, the Act also shifts the emphasis from strands of discrimination, such as race and disability, to the concept of protecting people with 'protected characteristics' from discrimination. The Act extends some protections to characteristics that were not previously covered.
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion and belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
Key changes that affect the workplace include:
- Protecting people with a disability from discrimination in the recruitment process, by restricting the circumstances in which pre-employment health enquiries can be made.
- Protecting people from being discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic.
- Making employers liable for harassment of their employees by a third party in relaton to any protected characteristic.
- Introducing new concepts of discrimination arising from disability and indirect discrimination.
- Making contractual pay secrecy clauses unenforceable
