Transcript Institute of Employment Rights NorthWest Conference 2009

Institute of Employment Rights
NorthWest Conference 2009
The New Equality Bill
-The Public Duty
Professor Fiona Beveridge
Liverpool Law School
Introduction
• The Existing Equality Duties
• The Proposed Equality Duty
• Implementation
• Enforcement
The Existing Equality Duties
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The Race Duty
The Disability Duty
The Gender Duty
General v Specific
Code of Practice
The Proposed Equality Duty (Cl. 1)
• Socio-Economic Inequalities:
– An authority to which this section applies must,
when making decisions of a strategic nature...
have due regard to...(the desirability of reducing)
the inequalities of outcome which result from
socio-economic disadvantage....
• Authorities covered
Public sector equality duty
• Cl.145 – A public authority must, in the
exercise of its functions, have due regard to
the need to –
a) Eliminate discrimination, harassment,
victimisation and any other conduct that is
prohibited by or under this Act;
b) Advance equality of opportunity between
persons who share a relevant protected
characteristic and persons who do not share it
c) Foster good relations between persons who
share a relevant protected characteristic and
persons who do not share it
Also applies to non-public authorities who are
exercising public functions, who must have
due regard to these duties in the exercise of
those functions
Protected Characteristics (Cl. 4)
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Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation
Implementation
• Requirements in the Bill
• Codes of Practice
• Previous Practice
Enforcement
• General Duties – judicial review
– Elias
– BAPIO
– Chavda
– Eisai
– Watkins-Singh
– ‘C’
– Kaur
Enforcement (contd)
• The specific duties
– Role of Equality Scheme
– Admissibility in Court Proceedings
– Role of ECHR
Overview and Observations