The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 will come into force in October. The Act aims to harmonise all current employment discrimination and to re-write the law in easy to understand plain English. The main features of the legislation are:

1. The introduction of the new terminology of ‘protected characteristics’, covering age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief and, in many instances, marriage and civil partnerships. 

2. Employers will not be permitted to question job applicants about their health and whether they have a disability, other than in specific circumstances, such as to establish whether the applicant will be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the job (with reasonable adjustments if necessary).

3. The ban on discrimination by association will be extended to all protected characteristics.

4. An extension of the definition of harassment to make employers liable for harassment (related to any protected characteristic) of employees by third parties.

5. The ban on discrimination based on perception is extended to protect employees who experience discrimination and harassment because they are wrongly thought to have a protected characteristic.

6. Employees will be able to claim they have been discriminated against for a combination of characteristics.

7. There will be a new protection against dismissal or detrimental treatment of employees for having a ‘relevant pay discussion’ with a colleague or former colleague.