Quarterly Newsletter November 2010 - The Equality Act 2010
23 Nov 2010
THE new Equality Act came into force in October and there has been a great deal of press coverage about it, including plenty of exaggerated claims that jokes in the office are now banned!
Overall, although it introduces some new concepts, the new Equality Act should not have an especially significant impact on business restructures. The key considerations remain the same, i.e. ensure that
• the proposals are fair and can be justified objectively;
• the way in which employees are treated (e.g.in terms of selection) is fair and objective and is in no way related to personal characteristics;
and
• the process does not have a particular adverse impact on a particular group of employees due to their personal characteristics (the new concept of combined discrimination needs to be borne in mind here).
The most significant changes have come in relation to disability discrimination and it is crucial that sufficient time is spent assessing the way in which the restructure will be implemented to ensure that:
• disabled employees are treated, as far as possible, in the same way as other employees;
• if some form of different treatment is necessary, that it is not detrimental;
• reasonable adjustments are made for employees who are disabled, e.g. additional time is given to prepare personal profiles or role applications; and
• if, despite best efforts, it is not possible to ensure that there is no potential detriment for disabled employees, the process that has been decided upon is proportionate and has a legitimate aim to justify it.
