Equality Act in Force 1 October 2010

The majority of the Equality Act will come into force on 1 October 2010, despite the rumours sparked by the removal of the date from the Government Equalities Office (GEO) website.

There are a series of short guides to the Act on the site, and formal guidance from Equality and Human Rights Commission is expected within weeks.  The Statutory Codes of Practice are expected to be out by the end of July.

You can read and download Acas guidance for employers here.

Acas explains that “The Equality Act is a mixture of rights and responsibilities that have:

• Stayed the same ‚Äì for example, direct discrimination still occurs when “someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic”.
• Changed ‚Äì for example, employees will now be able to complain of harassment even if it is not directed at them, if they can demonstrate that it creates an offensive environment for them.
• Been extended ‚Äì for example, associative discrimination (direct discrimination against someone because they associate with another person who possesses a protected characteristic) will cover age, disability, gender reassignment and sex as well as race, religion and belief and sexual orientation.
• Been introduced for the first time ‚Äì for example, the concept of discrimination arising from disability, which occurs if a disabled person is treated unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability.”

As a result, you may need to review and change some of your policies and practices.

Please also see our news item about pre-employment questionnaires.