The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is the principle anti-discrimination law in the UK. The law defines the “Protected Characteristics” or the equality groups which are protected in law, and how each of these is defined. The 9 protected characteristics are:
- Age
Age is defined by reference to a person’s age group. An age group can mean people of the same age or people of a range of ages. Age groups can be wide (for example, ‘people under 50’; ‘under 18s’), they can be quite narrow (for example, ‘people in their mid-40s’; ‘people born in 1952’), and they can be relative (for example, ‘older than me’ or ‘older than us’).
- Disability
Disability is defined as “a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term, adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
- Gender reassignment
Gender reassignment is defined as people who are proposing to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone a process (or part of a process) to reassign their sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex such as name and appearance. The legal end point of this process is when a person acquires a gender recognition certificate which legally changes all records of their birth sex, though this is not a requirement for protection from discrimination.
People with this protected characteristics includes people who identify as trans, transgender, tran man, trans woman, transsexual; and is likely to include people who identify as non-binary, gender fluid, gender non-confirming, and gender queer. A person has this protected characteristics event if their legal sex (via a gender recognition certificate) is different to their birth sex or biological sex, whether they self identify as male, female or trans.
- Marriage & civil partnership
A person who is married or in a civil partnership has the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership. There is no equivalent protection for someone who is not in a marriage or civil partnership.
- Pregnancy & maternity
Pregnancy and maternity is defined as:
- a person is pregnant,
- a person has been pregnant
- a person has given birth within 26 weeks
- is breastfeeding a child up to 26 weeks of age
The date from which a woman gave birth is defined as: The day she gave birth to a live child. The day she gave birth to a dead child which occurred more than 24 weeks of the pregnancy period.
Within a work context, an employee is also protected from unlawful discrimination because they:
- are pregnant,
- because of illness which is a result of the pregnancy,
- is on compulsory maternity leave,
- is planning to take ordinary or additional maternity leave,
- is taking ordinary or additional maternity leave,
- has taken ordinary or additional maternity leave
- Race
The definition of race includes:
- colour
- nationality
- ethnic or national origins
The definition of a race also includes reference to a particular racial group, and a racial group can include more than one distinct racial groups e.g. Black Afro/Caribbean people could include Jamaicans, Cubans, Haitians etc
Nationality (or citizenship) is the specific legal relationship between a person and a state through birth or naturalisation. It is distinct from national origins. The courts have confirmed that the following are protected ethnic groups: Sikhs, Jews, Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers, Scottish Gypsies, and Scottish Travellers.
- Religious belief and non-belief
Religion: The term ‘religion’ includes the more commonly recognised religions in the UK such as: Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Rastafarianism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. A religion need not be mainstream or well known to gain protection as a religion. However, it must have a clear structure and belief system. Denominations or sects within religions, such as Methodists within Christianity or Sunnis within Islam, may be considered a religion.
Religious belief: the term “religious beliefs” goes beyond a belief about and adherence to a specific religion or its central articles of faith, and would include how that faith is practiced and manifested by the individual. This may vary from person to person within the same religion.
Philosophical belief: There is no defined list of philosophical beliefs, but to be eligible for legal protection it must:
- be genuinely held;
- be a belief and not an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available;
- be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour;
- attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance;
- be worthy of respect in a democratic society, not incompatible with human dignity and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others.
What is important to consider is how people are treated because of this belief in the workplace. Membership of a political party or a belief is a particular political ideology are not religious or philosophical beliefs.
No Belief: Where a person has no belief they are equally protected from experiencing discrimination or harassment because of their lack of belief.
- Sex
Sex refers to a male/man/boy and female/woman/girl. The Equality Act only defined sex as a binary.
- Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation means a person’s romantic and physical attraction towards:
- persons of the same sex,
- persons of the opposite sex,
- persons of either sex.
These are more often referred to as lesbian/gay, bisexual, and heterosexual/straight.
Discrimination and unlawful conduct
All of our team and colleagues-in-training should work to ensure any of the below never happen:
- Direct discrimation (including by association and perception)
- Indirect discrimination
- Failure to provide a disability reasonable adjustment
- Discrimination arising from a disability
- Harassment (including by association and perception)
- Victimisation
The Equality Act provides protections in the following areas:
- As an employee
- As a student in education
- As a Service User of a public service
- As a Customer of a public service
The law also provides a number of exemptions, such as when providing single sex facilities, or age based restrictions; and it includes a number of duties that public bodies must comply with.
The Public Sector Equality Duty
As a public body, we are obliged to comply with the Public Sector Equality duties. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires that when Lead Employer make decisions, that due regard for how those decisions impact on equality must be considered, specifically asking:
- Is there any unlawful discrimination, and how can that be eliminated?
- Can we advance equality of opportunity / promote equality between different equality groups?
- Can we foster good relations between different equality groups?
Completing this process may also be termed an Equality Impact Assessment/Equality Analysis.