Legislation in support of equality and diversity

The article discusses the Equality Act 2010 and other legislations in the UK that prevent unlawful discrimination and unequal treatment at the workplace. It also highlights the importance of advisory services and organizations that provide impartial and free information as well as advice to employees and employers on all aspects of employment law and workplace relation in private as well as public sectors.

Equality and
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Every employee is an important element of an organization and must be treated with respect and
dignity. However, this situation does not exist in the real world. Employers often make
differentiation among their employees based on some personal characteristics. Discrimination at
the workplace is a situation where an employer treats their employees in a different manner In
UK, the Equality Act 2010 is the lead legislation, which prevents the practice of unlawful
discrimination and unequal treatment at the workplace. Under this act nine characteristics are
mentioned, based on which an employer cannot treat two of its employees in a different manner.
These characteristics are known as protected characteristics and include sexual orientation, age,
sex, gender, disability, , marriage an civil partnership, race, religion, pregnancy, and maternity
(Sheffield.ac.uk, 2019). It means if any employer treats their employees in a distinct manner
considering these characteristics then the situation is known as unlawful discrimination
(Eoc.org.uk, 2019). The definition is applicable to private as well as public sector employment.
The subjective act possesses a public sector equality duty to public sector bodies. The purpose of
this equality duty is to eradicate unlawful discrimination, to eliminate victimization, harassment
and other conduct forbidden under the act. The second purpose of the duty is to advance equality
of opportunity between people with and without protected characteristics. The last aim of quality
duty is to foster and motivate good relationships between the people with and without protected
characteristics. Equity Act 2010 is not the first legislation developed in the UK that provides
provisions related to diversity and equality in public services but before this too legislations were
there which had aimed to demotivate the practices of prejudice, discriminatory behavior and
unconscious bias in public sector. These different regulations address different characteristics
and developed over time. Sex discrimination Act 1975 is one of such legislation. This act forbids

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discrimination against people in the area of education, vocational training, and employment, in
the provisions of goods, in the management or disposal of premises and others.
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) Order 2006 was another
effort that has been made to escalate gender difference among people in public sector services.
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 is another important law in the area
of discrimination. As the name of regulation implies, the same was developed to provide
protection to employees that face discrimination at work because of their belief or religion. The
regulations have been developed because members of Christian, Muslim and communities have
been dismissed unfairly because of their religion and faith. This regulation made such behavior
unlawful. This act applied to Wales, Scotland, and England. While discussing equal treatment
and other rights of people in the public sector, mention of the Human Rights Act 1998 is
necessary to do. The act puts a liability to treat everyone equally with dignity, respect, and
fairness on UK courts, and other public organizations including police, government, and local
councils. In this manner, by putting such duties to public sector organizations, the act escalates
practices of unfair treatment and discrimination. Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 is an act
that makes the racial discrimination unlawful in all public authorities and puts a duty on public
bodies to promote race equality. Public bodies that do not follow the provisions of this legislation
or do not fulfill the duty to promote race relation can be subject to notice under the same. In such
a manner this act ensures there is no unfair treatment of people by public servants based on their
race.
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 was nice effort take by the UK
government in the sector of discrimination at the workplace. The act granted the right to bring
the action if people experience discrimination at work based on their sexual orientation. The

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provisions of this regulation have been provided for the employee of both private as well as the
public sector. Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 are another
important piece of law when it comes to study of discriminatory behavior in the public sector.
This regulation included a new definition of an indirect form of sex discrimination. The main
motive of the discrimination is to protect the discrimination in private as well as public sectors
based on the gender of people. The regulation also extends the protection within unpaid practical
work experience and vocational training (Uea.ac.uk, 2019).
Many times it has been seen that people faced discrimination based on their age. To prevent such
issues in private as well as in public sector services, Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
2006 has been developed. This regulation contained a fair retirement flow chart as well as
provisions related to request to work beyond retirement. In this manner, all of these legalizations
addressed one or more issues related to discrimination in the workplace and came out with the
same aim. Most of these acts had similar regulations and created confusion among employers as
well as employees, hence in 2010; Equality Act 2010 has been developed. Nine legislations have
been merged in the subjective act that also included some of the legislation discussed above such
as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, the
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality
(Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003. It means apart from these regulations, the rest of the
discussed piece of legislations are still there. Understanding of prejudice, discriminatory
behavior, and unconscious bias in public services is much important aspect. Public services and
sectors play an important role in society as well as in an economy as this sector is responsible for
providing all public services (Knowles, 2019) Healthcare, social care, law enforcement, and
security, education are some of the areas that contain public services. These are basic services,

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which everyone requires in their life in order to meet a basic standard of living. Imagine a
situation where people are being treated in an unequal or unfair manner in public services. This
can be a great challenge as such a situation can contribute to poor outcomes and greater
inequality (Equalityhumanrights.com, 2019).
In order to fulfill the diverse needs of people, public services are required to avoid discriminatory
behavior. In private sectors, there is always competition and options available to people, but the
situation is not the same in the case of public services. People are much depended on public
services and this is the reason that this sector cannot afford to have discrimination and other
unfair behavior while dealing with the public as well as its employees. Equality is required to be
considered while designing policies and delivery of services as public services affect many
people. If an understanding related to prejudice and unconscious bias would not be there, then
there would be unethical practices of discrimination and people will not be able to take public
services in a manner they are entitled to. Hence, to support and ensure basic human rights of
people as mentioned under the Human Rights act 1998 and rights of employees mentioned under
Equality Act 2010, understanding of discriminatory behavior in the public services is required.
After the above-mentioned discussion, it is clear that discriminatory practices and unconscious
bias are one of the most important topics to understand and discuss in the context of public
sectors and services. Nevertheless, another issue is also there. Employees often face confusion
regarding legislations and their applicability while dealing with discrimination at the workplace
as they do not have depth known ledge of their rights. Here advisory services play an important
role. Several organizations are there that provide advisory services in the area of employment
and has the aim to improve working life and organizations through improve performance, better

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employment relations and working with staffs and employers to solve problems. Advisory,
Conciliation and Arbitration Service is one of such organization that provides impartial and free
information as well as advice to employees and employer on all aspects of employment law and
workplace relation in private as well as public sectors (Acas.org.uk, 2019). Citizens Advice
Bureau is another important organization that plays a role in relation to fair treatment in public
service employment. This Bureau helps employees from public sectors to challenge
discrimination and put their lives back together via the help of advice and support
(Citizensadvice.org.uk, 2019).
In conjunction with the above two, third important advisory service body is Equality and Human
Rights Commission which is commonly known as EHRC. EHRC is one of the significant
departmental government bodies in England and Wales. This body ensures a discrimination-free
work environment in public sectors by imposing equality duty. This body helps people from
protected characteristics by minimizing the effect of disadvantages suffered by them. Royal
Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, also known as RADAR is an umbrella
organization that works for and with disabled people with the aim to remove attitudinal,
economic, structural, and barriers (Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk, 2019). In this manner,
the body plays a crucial advisory role in public services. Further, an independent membership
organization is there which defends freedom, challenges justice, and promote fair treatment of
people in the UK. The organization is known as Liberty. An advocacy group supports human
rights. In order to know the role of this organization in respect to equality and diversity practices
in public sector employment, this is to state that whenever a new law comes out, this
organization reviews the impact of the same to various groups in the public sector and try to
defend employees, people and communities (Libertyhumanrights.org.uk, 2019). When it comes

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to the discussion of discrimination and unfair practices in employment, trade unions also plays
an important role. Trade unions in the public sector are a group of people that represent
employees in an organization. Unions are there to demotivate the practices that are against
employees. In such a way, unions raise the topics of diversity, discrimination, and fair behavior
in public service employment and support those employees who cannot raise their voice against
such issues. Not only these organizations and bodies, but some other inspectorates and advisory
bodies are also there that plays an important role in the context of discrimination and unfair
treatment in public sectors. In the UK, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Office for
Police Conduct and Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for Prisons are some of such bodies.
These bodies oversee the functions of police, handle the complaints made against the police of
England and Wales, and ensure that prisoners of the UK are treated well in prisons. By doing
this, these organizations ensure that everyone is getting equal treatment while dealing with public
authorities.
In order to discuss the importance of above-mentioned legislation and authorities, this is to state
that the same prevent negative outcomes of discrimination on individuals. One of the significant
negative impacts of discrimination at the workplace is poor mental health and poor mental
wellbeing (Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 2011). Victims of discrimination feel unable to
focus on their work and their performance gets down. In a conclusive way, this is to state that in
the public services sector, employees, as well as other individuals, face mental health issues
when they experience discriminations.

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References
Acas.org.uk. (2019) About us. [online] Available from: https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?
articleid=1342 [Accessed on 22/07/2019]
Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. (2011) No Health Without Mental Health: A cross-
Government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all age. [online] Available from:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/
file/138255/dh_123989.pdf [Accessed on 21/07/2019]
Citizensadvice.org.uk. (2019) National Association of Citizens. [online] Available from:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/global/migrated_documents/corporate/pdf-annual-report-
2001-2002.pdf [Accessed on 22/07/2019]
Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
Eoc.org.uk. (2019) What Is Discrimination? [online] Available from:
https://www.eoc.org.uk/what-is-discrimination/ [Accessed on 21/07/2019]
Equality Act 2010

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Equalityhumanrights.com. (2019) Public Sector Equality Duty. [online] Available from:
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/public-sector-equality-duty
[Accessed on 22/07/2019]
Human Rights Act 1998
Knowles, E. (2019). Overview of the public services sector in the UK. [online] Available from:
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/public-services-and-
administration/overview-of-the-public-services-sector-in-the-uk [Accessed on 22/07/2019]
Libertyhumanrights.org.uk. (2019) Our Work. [online] Available from:
https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/who-we-are/our-work [Accessed on 22/07/2019] s
Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
Sex discrimination Act 1975
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) Order 2006
Sheffield.ac.uk. (2019) Protected Characteristics. [online] Available from:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/equality/focus/2.5491/protected [Accessed on 21/07/2019]
Uea.ac.uk. (2019) Overview of Current UK Equalities Legislation. [online] Available from:
https://www.uea.ac.uk/documents/6207125/6639021/overview+of+current+uk+legislation.pdf/
f993f0ba-fe92-4443-92e5-042f42801c1f [Accessed on 21/07/2019]
Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. (2019) RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and
Rehabilitation) [online] Available from:

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https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121003141907/http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/
Directories/DG_10011140 [Accessed on 22/07/2019]