Misleading claims about prices are also part of the Act. It is an offence to:
- Make a false claim that goods are being sold below the recommended price;
- Make a false comparison with a previous price, for example saying that goods have been reduced from £30 to £20 when they have been sold at £20 for the last three months.
- Suggest that the price is lower than it actually is because there are hidden extra costs. For e.g. the cost of packing and delivery have to be added to arrive at the full price.
Unsolicited Goods and Services Act
This is a law to protect people from inertia selling. Someone who receives goods they have not ordered does not have to pay for either the goods or the cost of returning them. If the sender does not collect them within 6 months the goods can be kept or sold. This is cut down to 30 days if the receiver writes to the sender asking them to collect the goods.
Although the Act applies to and refers to a woman’s contract compared with a man’s, it applies equally to a man’s contract compared with a woman’s too.
The effect is that a woman should not be paid less than a man in the same job. However the law is quite complex and employers can draw distinctions between the work that men and women do that justify lower pay. Applications under the Act are far from straightforward. A woman (or man) has to have six month’s continuous employment to bring an Equal Pay Act application to a Tribunal.
Health and Safety at Work Act
This act covers every kind of place of work. Factories, offices, farms, schools and colleges are all included. It sets out the duties and responsibilities of employers and employees for health and safety at work. What the lawyers call a ‘general duty of care’ is placed on everyone in a place of work. This means that everyone in a place of work, including visitors, is responsible for his or her own and other people’s health and safety.
Employers duties:
- To provide a safe place to work, including safe machinery and safe working methods. For e.g. making sure there are no trailing wires and that entrances and exits are not obstructed.
- To enforce safety regulations and safety standards. For e.g. must be guarded and workers made to use a machine only when it is guarded.
- To provide safety training and adequate safety supervision. All accidents must be recorded and investigated and the cause put right.
Employees duties:
- To report any defects in machinery or equipment, or in working areas.
- Not to interfere with anything provided for their own safety and that of others/ for e.g. machine guards can slow a worker down. Interfering with a guard is dangerous and may lead to an accident.
- To protect themselves and others in their work area. For e.g. by wearing safety clothing and not leaving things around that might cause someone to bump into or fall over them.
The Disability Discrimination Act:
The employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (“DDA”) apply to employment at an establishment in Great Britain. All employers now have to comply with the Act. It is unlawful to directly discriminate a person because of their disability by treating them less favourably than the employer would treat a person without that disability, whose relevant circumstances (including ability) are the same as, or not materially different from, those of the disabled person. This discrimination cannot be justified.
It is unlawful to treat a disabled person less favourably for a reason related to his disability than the employer treats or would treat a person to whom the reason for the treatment does not apply AND the employer cannot show that the treatment is justified.
An employer has a duty to take such steps as being reasonable to prevent any arrangements made by him, or on his behalf, or any physical features of his premises from placing a disabled applicant or employee at a substantial disadvantage compared with those who are not disabled.
Failure to make adjustments is itself an act of discrimination.
Equal Pay Act:
The Equal Pay Act 1970 provides an equality clause which is implied in to the contracts of men and women employed in Great Britain. The effect of the equality clause is that where any term of the woman’s contract is, or becomes, less favourable to her than a term of a similar kind in the contract under which a man is employed, that term of the woman’s contract is modified so as to make it not less favourable; where the woman’s contract does not include a beneficial term that forms part of the man’s contract, the woman’s contract is treated as including the missing term.
It operates in three situations:
1. Where a woman is employed on like work with a man in the same employment;
2. Where a woman is employed on work rated as equivalent with that of a man in the same employment;
3. Where a woman is employed on work that is of equal value to that of a man in the same employment.
Sex Discrimination Act:
Sex discrimination can be direct, where a woman is treated less favourably than a man or vice versa, sometimes it can be a married person who is treated less favourably than a single person. The test is whether the person would have received the same treatment but for his or her sex or marital status.
Sex discrimination can also be indirect. This would occur if a requirement or condition were imposed upon a woman or married person that also applies to a man or single person but has a detrimental effect on the woman or married person because she or he cannot comply with it.
Sex discrimination can also take place when a person is discriminated against because they have had or intend to have a gender transformation.
Race Relations Act:
The Race Relations Act 1976 applies the principles of unlawfulness to discrimination and victimisation about a person’s colour, race, nationality, ethnic origins or national origins.
The Commission for Racial Equality was established as a result of the 1976 Act. Its role is to work towards the elimination of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity and to keep under review the working of the Act.
The Commission issued a code of practice on race relations that can be taken into account by Employment Tribunals.
Racial discrimination can take place directly, indirectly or by way of victimisation. When a Tribunal or court decides whether discrimination has taken place, the position of the alleged victim will be compared with someone of similar ability and qualifications in similar circumstances.
Direct discrimination is where on racial grounds a person is treated less favourably than other people would be.
