Ids Diversity At Work

IDS Diversity at Work IDS Diversity at Work aims to provide timely, accurate and high quality information on workplace diversity, equal opportunities and discrimination law. It will help increase your understanding of and compliance with the law, and supply the information and the tools you need to realise the benefits of good practice.

Issue 62 – August 2009 2

News ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Equality Bill to protect against ‘dual discrimination’ Call for urgent talks on equal pay Curbing ‘no-win, no-fee’ lawyers Law firms commit to diversity best practice BT named most race-friendly employer Improving diversity in public appointments Revised Framework Agreement on Parental Leave Young people and men hit hardest by recession

Plus news in brief: BNP race action – Diversity honours – Pregnancy bias alliance – Stonewall guide – Met police first – ACPOS equality strategy – HR excellence – DH Equality Scheme – Equality Institute – Fathers’ flex worries

Legislation

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Guide to the Equality Bill – Part two In the second part of our two-part guide to the Equality Bill, we look at issues specific to particular protected characteristics such as disability, equal pay, and maternity and pregnancy. We also examine the provisions relating to new measures such as the single public sector Equality Duty and the socio-economic duty. Key provisions of the Bill covered in this article include:

IDS Diversity at Work

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extension of the scope of indirect discrimination to cover disability, as well as the introduction of a new definition of discrimination arising from disability in order to fill the ‘Malcolm gap’

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allowing equal pay claimants to rely on a hypothetical comparator to establish sex discrimination in pay where there is no actual comparator doing equal work

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rendering pay confidentiality clauses in employment contracts unenforceable in certain circumstances

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power to enable Ministers to require private sector employers with at least 250 employees in Britain to publish information about the differences in pay between their male and female employees

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outlawing ‘unfavourable’ treatment because of pregnancy and maternity

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creating a new single public sector Equality Duty which will continue to cover race, gender, and disability, but will be extended to cover age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment

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power to enable Ministers to impose specific duties on listed public bodies to enable them to carry out their Equality Duty effectively, including duties in relation to their public procurement functions

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a new duty on Government Ministers, departments and key public bodies such as local authorities and NHS Trusts to consider what action they can take to reduce the socioeconomic inequalities people face

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making it unlawful to unjustifiably discriminate against someone aged 18 or over because of age in the provision of goods, facilities and services.

ISSN: 1743-7350

Perspective 21

Editor: Gary Bowker Assistant Editor: Sylvia Lo Published by Incomes Data Services Ltd Finsbury Tower 103–105 Bunhill Row London EC1Y 8LZ Telephone 0845 077 2911 Fax 0207 393 8081 To enquire about subscriptions, telephone IDS Customer Services on 0845 600 9355, or subscribe online.

www.incomesdata.co.uk www.idsdiversityatwork.com

Putting equality at heart of local authority performance A new Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG), which aims to put equality at the heart of local government performance and to cut out bureaucracy and duplication, has been launched by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA). Mandy Wright, Associate Director at IDeA, explains the role of the new framework and how it works, and examines some of the challenges in implementing the EFLG in the current difficult economic climate.