Employment Law Update (July 2008)
New Law aims to make everyone equal
At the end of June, Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women
and Equality, announced further details of the proposed Equality
Bill. The proposals aim to bring faster progress towards "equality"
than has been achieved by existing anti-discrimination legislation
and, controversially, will include allowing employers to positively
discriminate in favour of certain job applicants.
The Bill will progress through Parliament over the next year or
so, and the proposals could be amended or watered-down before they
become law. However, the main thrust remains to eliminate
inequality, particularly in the workplace, rather than simply to
eliminate discrimination.
Critics of the Bill say that matters such as a "pay gap" between
certain workers – where women are paid on average less than men -
can be explained by different career and work / life balance
choices. They also say that to get equality of outcomes means
discriminating against some people – for example, deliberately
favouring a black job applicant over an equally well-qualified
white job applicant, which the proposed law will allow, simply
reverses discrimination and will lead to many more claims in
Employment Tribunals. How, for instance, can an employer prove that
both candidates were "equally well qualified"?
Particularly affected will be private sector employers doing
business with the public sector. These employers are likely to have
to show they have a workforce that accurately represents the make
up of the communities they operate in, and if they do not, to
operate positive discrimination policies to achieve that goal. The
difficulties they will face are in the additional costs of
operating such policies, including appropriate monitoring, auditing
and reporting procedures, and in facing Tribunal claims as a result
of heightened awareness of discrimination issues among job
applicants.
What is clear is that there will be a significant shake-up of
anti-discrimination law that will have an impact on employers,
particularly those performing contracts for the public sector.
As the proposals are fleshed out over the coming months,
Mentor will keep you informed of any action you need to take to
protect your business. In the meantime, if you have any HR queries,
please call the Mentor Employment Law Advice Line on 0800 634
7000 or speak to your Employment Law Consultant
direct.