The Equality Act 2010 – the basics

Sarah Guise

Equalities and Diversity Coordinator

s.guise@ucl.ac.uk

Equality Act (Royal Assent Apr 2010)

The stated aim of the Act is to reform and harmonise discrimination law, and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. As the Act is brought into force, it will replace all existing equality legislation, including the Equal Pay Act (1970).

Timeline for implementation

• October 2010: employment, equal pay and services, public functions and associations, education (further and higher)

• April 2011: The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) replacing the current public sector duties in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2006.

• 2012: The ban on age discrimination in provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions comes into effect.

Legally protected categories in higher education?

• Age• Political belief• Socio-economic status• Religion• Philosophical belief• Sexual orientation• Class• Weight

• Marital status• Pregnancy• Gender reassignment• Sex• Race• Height• Nationality• Disability

Protected characteristics

‘Protected characteristics’ (formerly referred to as ‘equality strands’) are the grounds upon which discrimination is unlawful. The protected characteristics under the Act are:

• age • disability • gender reassignment • marriage and civil partnership • pregnancy and maternity • race • religion or belief (including lack of belief ) • sex • sexual orientation

Prohibited conduct

• Direct discrimination

– Discrimination by association

– Discrimination by perception

– Combined discrimination: dual characteristics*

• Indirect discrimination

• Harassment (incl. 3rd party)

• Victimisation

• Discrimination ‘arising from’ disability

Employees or people seeking work

The provisions for direct and indirect discrimination and victimisation apply where the employer is making arrangements to fill a job, and in respect of anything done in the course of a person’s employment:

• terms of offer• access to opportunities for promotion• transfer or training• receiving benefits• facility or service • dismissal• subjecting employees to detriment

The Equality Act – teaching and learning provisions

Section 91 prohibits discrimination by universities:•in the way it provides education for the student •by subjecting the student to any other detriment •Teaching methods, delivery and related issues such as assessment all need to comply with the main provisions of the Act

Public sector equality duty

The new duty covers all of the protected characteristics apart from marriage and civil partnership. The duty will require HEIs to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act

• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it

• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it

Public sector equality duty

To advance equality of opportunity, HEIs will need to have due regard, in particular, to the need to:

• remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic

• take steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of people who do not share it

• encourage people who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such people is disproportionately low

Employment data

• More transparency with equality data so UCL is accountable to the wider public

• HEIs will need to publish their gender pay gap figures* and their employment rates for black and minority ethnic staff and disabled staff.

Positive action*

• extended to recruitment and promotion of employees

‘equally qualified’ to mean the situation in which there are ‘two or more applicants for a job who would be able to do it equally well – although they may do it differently depending on their skills and qualities’.

Case study 1

• A Bloomsbury department is being restructured and relocated to North London. A staff member with mobility issues who used to get a lift to work will now need to use public transport to get to North London. He has asked if he can work from home 2 or 3 days a week to reduce the amount of time they spend on public transport. His main role is to troubleshoot IT problems.

Case study 2

• A man in your female-dominated team is a big fan of Kylie and Strictly Come Dancing. He lives in Hampstead with his wife and daughter. Some of gay colleagues joke he is a ‘gay man trapped in a straight man’s body’. He seems to find this funny, and often responds wittily, but you notice he has taken down some of the music posters by his desk.

Case study 3

• A post doc researcher from the Czech republic is working in a medical research lab. The Principle Investigator in the lab is Greek is so are the majority of researchers and PhD students. Often Greek is the default language in the department, especially around non-work discussions. The Czech woman is concerned that her work is being overlooked and complains of poor sleep.

Case study 4

• A Muslim student based in a UCL department in Queen’s Square has asked if there are any prayer facilities she can use. You explain that UCL has a Quiet Contemplation Room on the main campus. She is concerned that during the winter months she will need to walk there and back up to three times and day, taking up to an hour and a half.

Case study 5

• There is a woman in the Estates and Facilities Division who has just joined from the private sector as a surveyor. She is from Essex and looks around 25. When she started she was full of ideas in team meetings, but her contributions were rarely acknowledged and minuted. More recently you have noticed that she keeps herself to herself and diligently gets on with her own work.

Case study 6

• A Mexican student complains that the security staff who work in her department say ‘hello gorgeous’ when she comes into the building. She was surprised the first time as she didn’t expect this in the UK, but the second time it happened, she was irritated and has started using the other entrance. You have spoken to your Head of Department who says there is nothing you can do as they are not UCL security staff.

Questions?