Equality and Discrimination.
Welcome to the Equality and
Discrimination section of
the Unity website.
Unity supports its member's rights to equality and protection from
discrimination
in the workplace. This page gives a brief outline and basic information on
the
following topics :
- Disability Discrimination
- Equal Pay
- Fixed-term Employees
- Part-time Employees
- Race Discrimination
- Age Discrimination
- Religion or Belief
- Sex Discrimination
- Sexual Orientation
- Trade Union Membership
- Updated : Flexible Working - Click
HERE for further
information.
- Updated : Parental and Dependency Leave - Click
HERE for further information.
Most people are entitled to the statutory rights listed in this article,
although, in many
cases qualifying conditions must be fulfilled. Some rights apply to
employees as
soon as they start work, others depend on factors such as length of service.
Your
Unity representative or full time officer will give you detailed information on
the actual
qualifying conditions.
Unity is free to negotiate better terms and conditions in your contract of
employment
than those required by legislation. A contract of employment is an
agreement entered
into by an employer and employee under which they have certain mutual
obligations.
Employers must give employees a written statement of the main particulars of
employment within two (2) months of the beginning of the employment. It
should
include, among other things; details of pay, hours of work, holidays, notice
period and
an additional note on disciplinary and grievance procedures.
If you have a dispute with your employer about any of the rights listed in this
article, contact your Unity representative on-site, or ring Unity Head Office
and speak to your
official.
Disability Discrimination :
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 gives disabled people at work,
protection from discrimination. This means that employers :
- must not treat a disabled person less favourably because of a reason related
to their
disability, without a justifiable reason.
- are required to make reasonable adjustments to working conditions or the
workplace
where that would help to accommodate a particular disabled person.
Equal Pay :
Employers must give men and women equal treatment in the terms and conditions of
their employment contract if they are employed on :
- 'like work' : work that is the same or broadly similar.
- work related as equivalent under a job evaluation study, or
- work found to be of equal value.
A woman is employed on 'like work' with a man if her work is of the same
or a broadly similar nature. It is for the employer to show that there is
a genuine reason for any difference in pay for this 'like work', which is not
based on the sex of an individual.
Individuals may complain to an employment tribunal under the Equal Pay Act 1970
up to
six (6) months after leaving the employment to which their claim relates.
Normally, they
may claim arrears of remuneration (which includes sick pay, holiday pay,
bonuses,
overtime etc, as well as 'pay') for a period of generally up to six (6) years -
five (5) years
in Scotland - before the date of their tribunal application.
Fixed-term Employees :
The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations
2002 aim to ensure that employees on fixed-term contracts are treated no less
favourably than comparable permanent employees.
Examples of fixed-term work include :
- agricultural workers during 'seasonal' work.
- shop assistants working for the Christmas period.
- employees covering maternity leave.
- employees doing a specific task - like painting a house
Under the regulations these employees have a right to the same terms and
conditions
of employment as comparable permanent employees.
Part-time Employees :
The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
aim to ensure that part-time workers are not treated less favourably than
comparable
full-timers. Principally, this means they should :
- receive the same rates of pay.
- not be excluded from training simply because they work part-time.
- receive holiday entitlement pro rata to comparable full-timers.
- have any career break schemes, contractual maternity leave, and parental leave
made available to them in the same way as for full-time workers and
- not be treated less favourably when selecting workers for redundancy.
Race Discrimination :
The Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended) makes it illegal to treat a person less
favourably than others on racial grounds.
Race discrimination covers all aspects of employment - from recruitment to pay,
and
training to the termination of a contract.
Discrimination covers four areas :
1 - Direct discrimination : Treating someone less favourably on racial grounds.
2 - Indirect discrimination : Applying practices that might favour one racial
group over
another.
3 - Harassment : Unwanted conduct that violates a persons dignity and creates a
hostile or degrading environment.
4 - Victimisation : Unfair treatment of an employee who has made a complaint
about
racial discrimination.
However, a job may be restricted to people of a particular race or ethnic or
national
origin, if one of these characteristics is a genuine occupational requirement.
A
genuine occupational requirement or qualification may apply in limited
circumstances
for reasons of authenticity - for example, to achieve authenticity a theatre
company may
need black actors to depict certain scenes.
Age Discrimination :
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
makes it is no longer lawful to
discriminate on the grounds of age.
Upper age limits on unfair dismissal and redundancy will be removed. There
will be
a national default retirement age of 65, making compulsory retirement below that
age
unlawful unless objectively justified.
You will have the right to request to work beyond the age of 65 or any other
retirement
age set by the company. The employer has a duty to consider such requests.
There are certain circumstances when discrimination may be lawful - these are
contained in a full copy of the regulations, and not in this guide.
What do the regulations mean to you...? You are protected against
direct or indirect
discrimination. It will be unlawful on the grounds of age to :
- decide not to employ you.
- dismiss you.
- refuse to provide you with training.
- deny you promotion.
- give you adverse terms and conditions.
- retire you before your usual retirement age (if you have one) or retire you
before the
default age of 65.
Religion or Belief :
The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 protect people
from
discrimination on the grounds of religion and/or beliefs.
The regulations mean that an organisation's recruitment and selection
procedures, as
well as employment practices, must treat everyone fairly regardless of religion
or belief.
Sex Discrimination :
Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended), employers should not
discriminate
on grounds of sex, marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or because someone
intends to
undergo, is undergoing, or has undergone gender reassignment.
Sex discrimination covers all aspects of employment - from recruitment to
termination of
a contract, and training and pay. It also includes applying requirements,
conditions or
practices, which, though applied equally to all, have a disproportionate effect
on one sex
or on married people which cannot be shown to be justifiable (for instance to be
job related).
There are limited exceptions : the Act permits employers, under certain
conditions, to
train employees of one sex in order to fit them for particular work in which
their sex has recently been under-represented; they may also encourage the
under-represented sex
to take up opportunities to do that work.
Sexual Orientation :
The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 give protection
from
discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. This includes
'orientation towards
someone of the same sex (lesbian or gay men), opposite sex (heterosexual) or
both
sexes (bisexual)'.
The regulations mean that an organisation's recruitment and selection
procedures, as
well as employment practices, must treat everyone fairly regardless of their
sexual
orientation.
Trade Union Membership :
Employees have various rights to be protected against discrimination because
they
belong or do not belong to a trade union. For example, it is unlawful to :
- specify union membership in advertising a job.
- limit recruitment to trade union members.
- be refused employment or the services of an employment agency because of
membership or non-membership of a trade union.
- be dismissed or chosen for redundancy because of membership or non-membership
of a trade union.
- Updated :
Flexible Working - Click
HERE for further
information.
- Updated : Parental and Dependency Leave -
Click HERE for further information.
Visit the ACAS website at
www.acas.org.uk or the Department of Trade and Industry website at
www.dti.gov.uk/er for
more information.