UK Employment Legislations

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

• Protect men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status.

• The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassment, the provision of goods and services, and the disposal of premises.

Equal Opportunities commission

• Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 established theEqual Opportunities Commission (EOC):– elimination of discrimination, – to promote equality of opportunity between sexes– to keep under review the workings of the Sex

Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act 1970. – The EOC helped individuals bring cases to Employment

Tribunals and to the courts. – now subsumed into theEquality

and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

• Direct and indirect discrimination against women

• Sex discrimination against men.• Discrimination on the grounds of gender

reassignment• Discrimination against married persons and

civil partners in employment field• Discrimination on the ground of pregnancy or

maternity leave• Harassment, including sexual harassment

Summary: the Race Relations Act 1976RRA

• established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race.

• discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods and services, education and public functions.

Commission for Racial Equality

• established the with a view to review the legislation, which was put in place to make sure the Act rules were followed.

• The Act provides for a few, specific exemptions where it may be a genuine occupational qualification (GOQ) to be a member of a particular race, ethnic group, etc. The list of genuine occupational qualifications includes actors, models, personal welfare offices and certain jobs in places like restaurants where "for reasons of authenticity" a person of a particular racial group is required, for example a Chinese restaurant.

• There is only very limited provision for positive action of a narrow kind.– For example, training may be provided to equip

people from an under-represented group to apply for posts. However no positive discrimination is allowed at the point of selection.

• The Race Relations Act covers discrimination by employers, trade unions, professional associations, employment offices and similar bodies and redress may be sought against an individual and their organisation.

• The Act incorporates the earlier Race Relations Act 1965 and Race Relations Act 1968 and was later amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 , notably including a statutory duty on public bodies to promote race equality, and to demonstrate that procedures to prevent race discrimination are effective.

• The Race Relations Act 1976 established a non-departmental public body, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), with a view to review the legislation and enforce the duties specified in the Act. Since October 2007, its work has been merged into the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights, though it will subsist as a separate body until 2009.

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

• to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; and

• to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups.

• Racist attacks and violence are serious criminal offences

Equal Pay Act 1970

• An Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which prohibits any less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment.

• It was passed by Parliament in the aftermath of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike and came into force on 29 December 1975.

• first such legislation in theworld.

The strike

• The strike began on 7 June, 1968, when women sewing machinists at Ford Motor Company Limited's Dagenham plant in Essex walked out, followed later by the machinists at Ford'sHalewood Body & Assembly plant. The women made car seat covers and as stock ran out the strike eventually resulted in a halt to all car production.

• The Dagenham sewing machinists walked out when, as part of a regrading exercise, they were informed that their jobs were graded in Category B (less skilled production jobs), instead of Category C (more skilled production jobs), and that they would be paid 15% less than the full B rate received by men.[1][2][3] At the time it was common practice for companies to pay women less than men, irrespective of the skills involved.[4

• the strike ended three weeks after it began, as a result of a deal that immediately increased their rate of pay to 8% below that of men, rising to the full category B rate the following year. A court of inquiry (under the Industrial Courts Act 1919) was also set up to consider their regrading, although this failed to find in their favour.[5] The women were only regraded into Category C following a further six-week strike in 1976 (source BBC documentary broadcast 9th March 2013).[6]

Impact

• The ultimate result was the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970, which came into force in 1975 and which did, for the first time, aim to prohibit inequality of treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

• an Act of theParliament of the United Kingdom which has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010([1]), except in Northern Ireland where the Act still applies.

• Formerly, it made it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect of their disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods and services, education and transport.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995• The DDA is a civil rights law. Other countries use

constitutional, social rights or criminal law to make similar provisions. The Equality and Human Rights Commission combats discrimination. Equivalent legislation exists in Northern Ireland, which is enforced by the Northern Ireland Equality Commission.

• It is still permissible for employers to have reasonable medical criteria for employment, and to expect adequate performance from all employees once anyreasonable adjustments have been made.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 with 2005 amendments

• It is the first major legislation in this country to address the issue of discrimination against disabled people, and it places obligations on services providers, employers and others. Some requirements of the Act are being phased in over a number of years. The 1995 Act was subsequently amended in 2005, but these amendments are additions to, or clarifications of the 1995 legislation.

• The Act covers five main areas:

• Employment

• Employers must not discriminate unjustifiably against disabled employees or job applicants and must make reasonable adjustments to any arrangements or physical features which place disabled employees - or potential employees - at a substantial disadvantage.

• Access to goods, facilities and services

• It is unlawful for service providers to refuse to serve disabled people, or provide a lower standard of service, for reasons related to their disability, without justification.

• Private Clubs• The DDA 2005 amends Part 3 of the DDA to

include new duties for private clubs who were previously exempt under the DDA 1995

• Private clubs with 25 or more members are covered by the DDA in respect of their members, associates, guests, and prospective members and guests. It will be unlawful for a club to discriminate in the following ways:

• Management and disposal of land or property

• The Act prohibits discrimination against disabled people in the management, sale or rental of premises (buildings or land).

• Public transport vehicles

• The Act gave the Government powers to introduce regulations laying down new access standards for taxis, buses and trains.

• Education

• The provision of education is included within the Act's employment requirements, but excluded from service provisions.

The Employment Act 2008

• an Act of theParliament of the United Kingdom which reformed a number of issues from random elements of UK labour law.

• It is an amending statute, and therefore simply altered pre-existing law to remedy perceived problems in the law's operation to do with dispute resolution, strengthen enforcement of the minimum wage and employment agency standards and to conform with updated case law on trade unions, in particular,

• Through the Employment Act 2002 the government had introduced a mandatory statutory dismissal procedure, which had been designed to be followed in any case. If employers did not follow the procedure before dismissing their employees, the dismissal would be deemed automatically unfair. In practice it proved that employers did not follow the mandatory procedure (which was essentially a warning, a hearing and a right to an appeal) and business was adamantly opposed to the measure.

Employment Relations Act 2004• The main areas covered by the Act are:• the trade union recognition (and derecognition) procedure • the rights of trade union members, workers and employees, the

exclusion and expulsion of persons from trade unions, and general rights of workers and employees (including a power to implement EU requirements on information and consultation in the workplace

• changes to the enforcement procedures relating to the national minimum wage and the agricultural minimum wage (Part 4);

• matters relating to the Certification Officer (CO) • the law on the administration of trade unions and a power for

the Secretary of State to make funds available for trade union

• In most cases the Act amends earlier legislation. For example, it amends:

• the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (the “1992 Act”) to clarify and improve the statutory recognition procedure and some industrial action law provisions.

• The provisions in the 1999 Act relating to trade union law mainly amended and added to the 1992 Act – it is therefore the 1992 Act which is amended by the Act.

• the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 to make provision relating to appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) against employment tribunal decisions relating to failure to comply with certain provisions of the 1992 Act and the 1999 Act;

• the Employment Rights Act 1996 to provide new protections for employees in respect of jury service;

• the 1999 Act to clarify the role of the companion when accompanying a worker in disciplinary and grievance hearings;

• the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (and the Agricultural Wages Act 1948 and the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977) to improve enforcement procedures.

Work and Families Act 2006 (“the WFA 2006”)

• sets out the framework for improvements to existing • rights in relation to maternity and adoption leave, and

pay, and flexible working rights from April 2007. The • changes enabled by the Act are brought into force by the

Maternity and Parental Leave etc and the Paternity • and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 SI

2006/2014, which amend the Maternity and Parental • Leave etc Regulations 1999 and the Paternity and

Adoption Leave Regulations 2002.

• Women with an EWC on or after 1 April 2007 are now entitled to a maximum of 52 weeks' maternity leave regardless of length of service

• An employee intending to return early from maternity or adoption leave must now give his or her employer 8 week’s notice of the date on which he or she intends to return instead of the 28 days previously required

• 'Keeping in touch' (KIT) days have been introduced, whereby an employee can agree with the employer to do up to ten days' work during statutory maternity or adoption leave without losing statutory payments for that week, or bringing the leave to an end

national minimum wage

• The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to by law.

• how small an employer is, they still have to pay the minimum wage.

• The minimum wage rate depends on a worker’s age and if they’re an apprentice.

Workers must be school leaving age (last Friday in June of the school year they turn 16) or over to get the minimum wage.

• Contracts for payments below the minimum wage are not legally binding. The worker is still entitled to the minimum wage.

• Workers are also entitled to the minimum wage if they are:• part-time• casual labourers, eg someone hired for 1 day• agency workers• workers and homeworkers paid by the number of items they make• apprentices• trainees, workers on probation• disabled workers• agricultural workers• foreign workers• seafarers

• entitled to the minimum wage• The following types of workers aren’t entitled to the minimum wage:• self-employed people running their own business• company directors• volunteers or voluntary workers• workers on a government employment programme, eg the Work Programme• family members of the employer living in the employer’s home• non-family members living in the employer’s home who share in the work and leisure activities,

are treated as one of the family and aren’t charged for meals or accommodation (eg au pairs)• workers younger than school leaving age (usually 16)• higher and further education students on a work placement up to 1 year• workers on government pre-apprenticeships schemes• people on the following European Union programmes: Leonardo da Vinci, Youth in Action,

Erasmus, Comenius• people working on a Jobcentre Plus Work trial for 6 weeks• members of the armed forces• share fishermen• prisoners• people living and working in a religious community

• Voluntary work• You’re classed as doing voluntary work if you can

only get certain limited benefits (eg reasonable travel or lunch expenses) and you’re working for a:

• charity• voluntary organisation or associated fund-raising

body• statutory body

• From Tuesday 1 October 2013 the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will rise in accordance with the recommendations set out by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) in April this year.

• From 1 October 2013:• the adult rate will increase by 12p to £6.31 an hour• the rate for 18-20 year olds will increase by 5p to £5.03 an

hour• the rate for 16-17 year olds will increase by 4p to £3.72 an

hour• the apprentice rate will increase by 3p to £2.68 an hour• the accommodation offset increases from the current £4.82

to £4.91

Data Protection Act 1998

• a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people.

• It is the main piece of legislation that governs theprotection of personal data in the UK.

• Although the Act itself does not mention privacy, it was enacted to bring UK law into line with the EU data protection directive of 1995 which required Member States to protect people's fundamental rights and freedoms and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data

• The Act defines eightdata protection principles. It also requires companies and individuals to keep personal information to themselves.

• Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless-– at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and– in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in

Schedule 3 is also met.• Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified

and lawful purposes.• Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in

relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.• Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to

date.• Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be

kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

• About the rights of individuals e.g.[9] personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects (individuals).

• Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

• Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

Employment Tribunals

• are tribunal non-departmental public bodies which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees.

• The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and employment discrimination. The Tribunals are part of the UK tribunals system, administered by the Tribunals Service and regulated and supervised by the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council.

• Employment Tribunals were created as Industrial Tribunals by the Industrial Training Act 1964.

• Industrial Tribunals were judicial bodies consisting of a lawyer, who was the chairman, an individual nominated by an employer association, and another by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) or TUC-affiliated union.

Employment Tribunals are constituted and operate according to statutory rules issued by theSecretary of State.[2][3][4]

These rules, known as the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure, set out the Tribunals' main objectives and procedures, and matters such as time limits for making a claim, and dealing with requests for reviews. The Rules for appeals are governed by the separate Rules of the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

• A party making a Claim has to present (i.e. physically deliver) a valid Claim Form, on a prescribed form, to an Employment Tribunal office within the appropriate time limit. A Claim Form can be presented electronically (over the internet or by e-mail). If a Claim Form is late, even by a few seconds, then the Employment Tribunal may not be permitted to hear it and the claim may be dismissed on that basis alone, without a consideration of the merits, at a Pre-Hearing Review

• Tribunals are intended to be informal and to encourage parties to represent themselves.

• There is no special court dress or complex civil procedure rules as at a County Court.

• The Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure allow for several types of hearing:

• (i) A Case Management Discussion; (this is used to clarify issues and determine the Directions for a case).

• (ii) A Pre-Hearing Review (to determine the entitlement of a party to bring or defend proceedings), or an entitlement to Interim Relief (a form of preliminary finding in certain types of claim involving Trade Union activities or making a protected disclosure (whistleblowing), which may order a former employer to continue to pay a dismissed employee until a full hearing;

• (iii) A Full Hearing (which may determine liability and/or remedy):

• (iv) A Review Hearing (to re-consider a Judgment).