LAWFUL DISCRIMINATION:
There are specific circumstances when it is lawful to discriminate in health and social care sector. Like single sex hospital accommodation this is when hospital is required to provide single sex accommodation for the inpatients of hospital. It is also lawful to discriminate when services of facilities are designed for a particular group. It is lawful to provide access to services or facilities to people from a particular racial group in order to meet specific needs relating to education, training or welfare. For example; district health authority provides resources for a centre to provide information, counselling and screening on sickle-cell anaemia and thalassaemia for people of African, Caribbean, Asian and Mediterranean origin, who are statistically more likely to suffer from these disorders. This is lawful discrimination. A church-funded hospice reserves places for members of that religion or denomination. It is also lawful to discriminate with people who have psychiatric problems. People who are detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 or the Mental Health (Care and Protection) (Scotland) Act 2003 can be forced to accept treatment. The and provide safeguards for patients who lack capacity or refuse to consent to treatment. This is lawful discrimination. A sexual health clinic is set up to cater for women only, because appropriate provision already exists for men with sexual health problems in that area. This is lawful discrimination. This act introduces an occupational requirement defense across all protected characteristics, and removes the job-specific genuine occupational qualifications in sex, gender reassignment and race cases. This act will also extend the concept of positive action to allow employers to recruit or promote someone from an under-represented group, but only where they have a choice between two or more equally-suitable candidates.
DISABILITY:
The act defines a disabled person as someone who has a mental or physical impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Disabled people can now claim a particular rule or requirement disadvantages people with a certain disability. You can't treat someone unfavorably because of something connected to a disability. The standard example going round here is spelling mistakes because of dyslexia. Under this act an employer can no longer ask a prospective employee about their health before offering them work, unless you can prove you're doing so to check whether the employee can carry out an essential task (such as heavy lifting for a removals company) or to monitor diversity. You can screen health once you've made a job offer - but then of course you're opening a whole new can of worms if you rescind your job offer on the grounds of a disability, as you are then liable to be taken to tribunal too. 'Health' means physical disabilities and mental health problems. This also means you can't ask how much time an employee has taken off work in their previous jobs in an interview.
EQUAL PAY & CONTRACT TERMS:
The Act introduces a clear an obvious provisions on indirect discrimination in equal pay cases. It also provides the possibility of direct sex discrimination claims in respect of pay based on hypothetical comparators and also limit the enforceability of contractual “pay secrecy” clauses. This act also introduces a power to require large employers to report on their gender pay gap. This act also gives the right to the staff to discuss the wages with each other. Men and women doing equal work and work rated as of equal value are entitled to equal pay. Employers may wish to carry out a pay audit to ensure that men and women are getting equal pay according to the Equality Act 2010. Employees are also entitled to know how their pay is made up. For example, if there is a bonus system, everyone should know how to earn bonuses and how they are calculated.
RACE:
This Act introduces a power for the government to provide specifically that the definition of “race” includes “caste”. Direct discrimination occurs when a person treats you less favorably on racial grounds than you would treat or treats, some other person. A racial ground is being on the grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins and discrimination on these bases if unlawful. It is also unlawful to treat someone less favorably on the grounds of another person’s race, so that it is discrimination to treat a while employee less favorably because they have a black partner. Sometimes this discrimination can be very obvious like giving somebody a racist name-calling or abuse. Refusing to give someone a job or promote because of stereotyped ideas about the abilities or conduct based on race, also refusing to give someone a job or promotion on the grounds that customers will not like being served by a person of that race, or a pub or club operating quotas to prevent black members or customers from exceeding a specific number or proportion.
GENDER REASSIGNMENT:
The Act removes the requirement that individuals be under medical supervision to be protected by the gender reassignment provisions, and extend protection from indirect discrimination to transsexuals.It is unlawful to discriminate against workers because of gender reassignment. Employers should ensure they have policies in place which are designed to prevent discrimination in:
- recruitment and selection
- determining pay
- training and development
- selection for promotion
- discipline and grievances
- countering bullying and harassment
- Taking time off work.
Gender reassignment is a personal, social, and sometimes medical, process by which a person's gender presentation the way they appear to others is changed. Anyone who proposes to, starts or has completed a process to change his or her gender is protected from discrimination under the Equality Act. An individual does not need to be undergoing medical supervision to be protected. So, for example, a woman who decides to live as a man without undergoing any medical procedures would be covered. It is discrimination to treat transsexual people less favourably for being absent from work because they propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment than they would be treated if they were absent because they were ill or injured, or if they were absent for some other reason.
ENFORCEMENT:
The Act strengthens enforcement by enabling tribunals to make recommendations that benefit the wider workforce, not just the claimant. Tribunal judges can recommend changes to the practice of an entire business rather than just to the way an individual is treated. This act also gives the power of employment tribunal that is if an employment tribunal finds that an employer has discriminated against an employee, the tribunal will be given the power to make recommendations that impact on the wider workforce, such as a recommendation that harassment policies are more effectively implemented. However, the power will not apply in equal pay claims.
PUBLIC SECTOR DUTIES:
The Act places a new duty on certain public authorities to consider “socio-economic disadvantage” when taking strategic decisions about how to exercise their functions. It replaces the public sector race, gender and disability equality duties with a unified duty covering all strands, based on the current “due regard” principle. Also create a power for the government to issue secondary legislation to require public bodies to report significant inequalities in gender pay, ethnic minority employment and disability employment. The Act places a duty on public bodies, including local authorities, to consider reducing social and economic inequalities when taking strategic decisions. However, that new duty will not apply to decisions concerning individual employees only, although it could impact on local authorities' wider employment strategies. For example, it might require a local authority to consider encouraging applications for jobs from people living in disadvantaged areas of its community where unemployment is high. This is in addition to the public sector equality duties, which under the Act will include the existing ones based on race, disability and sex, but also new ones based on age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.