Berkshire HR expert explains the impact of new Equality Act
In a timely post Berkshire HR expert Carolyne Wahlen of Gap HR performs her normal preventative HR approach with this guest post about the implementation of the new Equality Act and what it means for employers.
The new Equality Act came into force today. This makes it possible for anyone covered by the “protected characteristics” to sue you, the employer, for things that other members of staff and your clients are perceived to have done to them!
The Act brings together all the different legislation from the past few years as well as case law decisions. What this means for you? Well, as an employer you were always vicariously liable for the actions of your employees. Now even more so and liable for the actions of third parties!
There are nine protected characteristics, i.e. things that you cannot discriminate on: gender, gender reassignment, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity. If you, for some silly reason, said that you weren’t promoting someone because they were a woman, then obviously you would be sued.
But now it has got trickier. If your staff are teasing a guy about being gay (because of his dress sense?) although they know he isn’t gay and he actually isn’t gay, then he can still claim harassment on the grounds of being perceived as gay under this act. Even worse, if he is okay with it but someone else in the office is offended by the atmosphere it creates, they can sue you! This harassment can also be something such as a facial expression or mimicry, so, as one of my clients said “Just wear a mask, don’t speak and rephrase all emails 3 times and you’ll be fine!”.
Another tricky area which the NHS and railway companies have already taken on board is the harassment by third parties. If a client yells at, abuses your staff member, and it happens twice, and you know about it but do nothing, then the third time it happens, no matter who does it, then you the employer can be sued for this abuse. We have all seen the posters in A&E and at the station saying that abuse of staff will not be tolerated – this is why. The employers are protecting themselves, and, to be fair, their staff as well.
You now also can’t stop staff telling anyone how much they earn. This is to encourage pay transparency and that there is “equal pay for equal work”. Good or bad? Not sure yet, but employers are going to have to come up with more objective criteria for paying more than just saying “he asked for more and I couldn’t think of a reason why not”.
Finally, you cannot send out pre-offer medical questionnaires. Well, you can, but if you don’t make an offer after someone has said that they are suffering from e.g. depression, then you will be sued. Even after offer, if you then withdraw the offer, then you will be sued – as the law firm Eversheds was: you would have thought that they of all people should have known better!
Does this act create more work for lawyers or more equality for employees? Only time will tell!
If you have any HR issues regarding the new Equality Act do contact Carolyne Wahlen at Gap HR - she might just save you a fortune, not to mention not needing Morgan PR's help with crisis management to save your company's reputation!
Photo by bpsusf via Flickr