It has certainly been a busy month.
With Donald Trump’s inauguration and subsequent actions, together with those of Elon Musk and Marc Zuckerberg who have made clear that diversity, equity and inclusion are certainly not on the agenda, you could be forgiven for thinking that now is not the time to talk about equality of opportunity.
On the other hand, perhaps now is precisely the right time for a reminder of the state of play in employment law on this side of the pond…
Equality Act 2010 – a reminder
The Equality Act 2010 (EqA) may have originated in European Law, but it has been well and truly enshrined in UK employment law for sometime and – for the time being at least – is certainly here to stay.
Employers will no doubt be well aware that the EqA offers protection from discrimination on grounds of any one of the nine ‘protected characteristics’:
- Sex
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Marital and civil partnership
- Sexual orientation
- Gender reassignment
- Disability
- Race
- Religion of belief
- Age
Discrimination may be:
- Direct – where you treat someone in a less favourable way simply because of their protected characteristic;
- Indirect – where you treat everyone the same, but it disadvantages a particular group sharing a particular protected characteristic;
- Harassment – where you treat someone in such a way related to a protected characteristic as to violate their dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Harassment can also arise where there is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or where you treat someone les favourably due to their submission to or rejection of sexual harassment or harassment of a sexual nature;
- Victimisation – where you subject someone to a detriment because they have:
- complained of or brought a claim of discrimination, or
- assisted someone else in their complaint or claim of discrimination, or
- have done anything else in connection with the EqA.
- In the case of disability, a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
As set out in our briefing in December 2024, employers should also now be aware of the duty to prevent sexual harassment by third parties.
Both employees, workers and potential employees and workers as well as partners, office holders and others are protected from discrimination. There is also protection in the EqA for service users and others, but that is outside the scope of this note.
Discrimination on grounds of belief – political affiliations?
Given the nature of a number of significant world events at the present time, it is worth reminding employers that whilst the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief does not, on the face of it, cover political affiliations, this can nonetheless be a tricky area. Many political beliefs will stem from or otherwise impinge upon wider religious or other beliefs, and employers will need to tread carefully when implementing any policies and/or dealing with any disciplinary or grievance procedures which may arise from such matters.
Parental bereavement leave
The Employment Rights Bill already contains plans to widen the scope of bereavement leave. However, this does not, at present, include any reference to the loss of a baby before 24 weeks’ pregnancy. However, in a report published by the Women and Equalities Committee on 15 January 2025, a recommendation has been made that the same rights be afforded to parents who lose a baby before 24 weeks – that is, two weeks’ pay and leave. This would apply to all cases, including miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy, IVF embryo transfer loss and a termination for medical reasons.
Whilst this has not yet been formally adopted and no indication has yet been given as to whether this will be supported by the Government, it is understood that the Committee proposes to table an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill in due course.
Neonatal Leave and Pay
Finally, as the US rolls back on all things EDI, regulations have this week been published which will bring the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 into force on 6 April 2025, subject to parliamentary approval. This act will give parents of babies who are admitted into neonatal care within 28 days of their birth, and have to stay in hospital for 7 days or more, the right to up to 12 weeks’ neonatal leave to allow them to spend time caring for their families, in addition to maternity/ paternity or any other leave to which they may be entitled. There will also be an entitlement to neonatal care pay, expected to be paid at the same rate as the basic rate of statutory maternity pay.
Contact details
Gemma.Sherbourne@tyrlaw.co.uk +44 (0)7535 652758 +44 (0)113 521 7556
