Equality Bill
The Labour government's flagship equality legislation, currently in the report
stage as it passes through the House of Lords, seeks to outlaw any form of
discrimination against disadvantaged groups in the office or market place.
The Bill will harmonise and in some cases extend existing discrimination law
covering the 'protected characteristics' of age, disability, gender
reassignment,
marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or
belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It will address the impact of recent case
law
which is generally seen as having weakened discrimination protection, and
harmonise
provisions defining indirect discrimination.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently published proposals for
voluntary measures on how organisations should analyse and make public their
gender pay gaps.
While FDF accepts that transparency on pay is a worthy concept, we have called
for changes to key areas of the Bill in an effort to save businesses from
further
cost pressures.
FDF has backed the government in rejecting mandatory pay reporting but that the
voluntary approach that will be adopted should not be based on a single metric,
such as the difference between average pay for men and women in an
organisation.
Employers need a flexible approach allowing options for reporting.
There is also some concern that using public procurement to boost equality will
prove to be a flawed system as many organisations responsible for public
procurement do not possess the skills or operational culture to deal properly
with
equality issues. FDF believes that any changes to legislation must be supported
by
clear and comprehensive guidance for employers and that legislation must be
publicised effectively and appropriately.
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