Report: Legislation Supporting Equality, Diversity, and Fair Treatment

This report provides a detailed analysis of legislation supporting equality and diversity, fair treatment, and the prevention of discrimination in public services. It examines key legislations such as the Equality Act 2010, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, and Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, highlighting their importance in fostering an inclusive workplace. The report emphasizes the significance of understanding unconscious bias, prejudice, and discriminatory behavior, and explores the role of advisory services like ACAS and the Citizen Advice Bureau in promoting these values. It evaluates the impact of these factors on public services, concluding that compliance with legislation is crucial for the success of any business and the well-being of its employees.

LEGISLATION IN
SUPPORT OF EQUALITY
AND DIVERSITY

Table of Content
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Legislation refers to as the laws that have been enacted or are enforced by any governing
body. It is very necessary for every company to have equality within company and also they
need to promote fair treatment within the organization so that its employees works efficiently
and productively. So for this many legislations have been designed in order to promote equality
and maintain fair treatment within the workplace (Durbin, Page and Walby, 2017). So the
following essay will cover a wide range of legislation relating to diversity, fair treatment and
equality. Further it will outline the importance of discriminatory behaviour, unconscious bias and
prejudice. Also, it will describe the role of different advisory services within the company. At
last the report will evaluate the impact of prejudice, discriminatory behaviour and unconscious
bias within the public services.
MAIN BODY
Range of legislations which are designed to implement equality, diversity and fair treatment in
public services
For maintaining equality, diversity and fair treatment at the workplace it is very necessary
for company to abide by certain legislations in order to promote and implement diversity,
equality and fair treatment. Some various kinds of legislations are as follows-
Equality- it refers to as a situation in which everyone is treated equally whether the
employee is male or female, rich or poor, literate or illiterate. Legislation relating to equality is
discussed below-
Equality Act, 2010- this is a law which is prepared in order to protect employees from
discrimination. The discrimination refers to as unfair treatment with the employees on basis of
certain traits and characteristics such as age, sex, disability, caste, status, gender, and many other
reasons. The public services should take into consideration the needs of employees and then act
accordingly so that there is no discrimination and everybody is treated equally and unjustly.
The equality act covers all the employees within the company, all employers, people with
disability, the equality act also covers public services like hospitals, trusts, police authorities,
local authorities and many other public services and because of application of this act many
discriminatory practices have been abolished by public services which earlier they used (Rankin
- Wright, Hylton and Norman, 2016).

Diversity- it can be defined as a concept which states that every individual or and
employee within the business is different from the other. So the public service companies must
check that every employee is comfortable in the work place environment. The diversity can be in
terms of culture, behaviour, language, ethnicity, religious beliefs, socio- economic status and
many other similar factors. So for this the companies follow the below discussed legislation-
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations, 2003- this law is made and
designed with intention of handling and combating with discrimination relating to the belief's
and religion of different people. The religion and beliefs are given much importance because
many employees comes form different countries and are of different religions and follows
different beliefs. So, if their religion is not respected then the employees will not be happy
working in that company.
This regulation defines religion as being a part of any religion or belief, includes some
form of collective worship with a clear belief and a profound belief which impacts the view of
person of the whole world (Page, Grisoni and Turner, 2014). According to this law it is illegal
for an employer to discriminate among it employees on terms of religion, caste and beliefs. If
this law is not followed or complied then the employer has to face a claim and will be penalized
for the religious discrimination.
Fair treatment- it refers to as an act of giving fair treatment to all the employees within
the company. All the employees must be treated according to their work and there must not be
any biasness and favouritism prevailing in the company. All the employees must be paid
according to the work done by them and not on the basis of favouritism. For maintaining a fair
treatment the companies can follow various legislation. One is discussed in the connected points-
Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006- this act ensures that the businesses do
not discriminate on the basis of the age of employees. This act helps the employees in requesting
that they can work beyond the age of retirement if they wish to do so. Also, this law makes
provision for benefit of retiring employees that the retiring employees must be given a six
months notice to the employees who are going to be retired. This is done because of the reason
that if they will be informed then they can plan for a better retirement plans.

Importance of understanding unconscious bias, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour
within the public services.
It is very necessary and important to understand the following concepts for the successful
running of the public services.
Unconscious bias- it is a type social discrimination which a person has for a particular
group of people. This bias is not intentional but is unconscious that is the employer also not
know that it is being biased and using favouritism. It is in human nature that it is biased to some
or other facts or biasness towards any particular person or group of person.
Prejudice- it can be defined as a pre conceived or pre thought opinion which is not at all
based on actual and real experience. It can also be defined as the attitude or feeling developed for
a person or anything. The prejudices are developed within a person at time when they dislike a
particular thing or group of people. These prejudices may lead to discrimination. This is because
of the reason that if a person develops a negative feeling for someone then by default it will start
avoiding that person and this will lead to discrimination.
Discriminatory behaviour- it can be defined as treating a person or employee within the
organization might be because of the reason that either they posses some characteristics or might
have something special (Ryan, Ravenswood and Pringle, 2014). The discrimination can be done
on certain grounds or characteristics like age, race, religion, caste, status, gender, income level
and many more other factors and reasons. There are mainly three types of discrimination that can
be done at workplace. These are discussed in the below connected points- Indirect discrimination- if the company has some type of policy or procedures which
puts the employees at a disadvantageous situation as compared to other employees is
called indirect discrimination. For instance, if a company has a policy that Sunday is a
working day and it has majority of Christians working there. Then it is a case of indirect
discrimination because everyone knows that Sunday is worship day for Christian. Direct discrimination- it is a situation wherein the employees treats some employees less
favourable as compared to other employees on certain basis or certain characteristics then
it is direct discrimination. Discrimination by perception- it is a type of discrimination wherein the employer
presumes that the employee is not good and from staring it is discriminated.

Role of advisory services relating to diversity, equality and fair treatment in employment
within public services
It is very necessary for companies to ensure that there is equality, fair treatment and
diversity within the organization. So for maintaining and promoting these things within the
business many advisory services are being established. Some of them are highlighted in the
adjoining points below-
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (ACAS)- this is an advisory service
which is a non- departmental government body created in order to improvise the practices used
by business and tries to develop healthy and positive relations among all the employees and with
the employer and other stakeholders and outsiders (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration
Services, 2019). The role of ACAS is discussed below- Conciliation- in this the ACAS performs the role of early conciliation and helps those
individuals who wishes to reach to a settlement or conclusion outside tribunal Arbitration- it also performs the role of arbitrator within which the parties need to submit
some proofs and evidences to the ACAS and then it makes the decision relating to the
case. Codes of practice- it is another role of ACAS that it has to publish some code of conducts
and practices which the companies need to follow while promoting equality, fair
treatment and prejudices. Research and guidance- this is yet another role of ACAS that is to do continuous
research since the environment is dynamic and if there are any changes within the market
or environment then it needs to guide other companies as well.
Citizen advice Bureau (CAB)- it is combination of 316 independent charitable
organization. This bureau is set up in order to help and provide information and advice for free to
assist people in any problem which they face. This organization performs the role of providing
guidance and advice to people who come to these advisory services and take consultancy and
help for any issue whether be it relating to equality or diversity or fair treatment. The only and
major role and responsibility of CAB is to provide advice and suggestion to any person coming
to take help form these advisory firms.

If the employee is facing any issue whether be it relating to equality that is the employees
are not being treated fairly and appropriately then it can come to CAB for help. Also, if the
employees feels that they are being discriminated on the basis of their caste and religion then
also it can come to Citizen Advice Bureau for help and it is the responsibility and duty of the
bureau that it helps the employees who are in problem and provide them with correct and
appropriate solutions. Other than these it also provides advice on issues like welfare benefits,
consumer complaints, employment, debt management, asylum, immigration, housing, and many
more such other related concepts.
Evaluation of impact of unconscious bias, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour within the
public services example
There is a great impact of unconscious bias, discriminatory behaviour or prejudices
within the public services. This may be because of the reason that if there will be biasness at the
company then it is evident that the employees will not work effectively and efficiently as they
have the feeling of being deprived or being ignored by the employers. So this will impact the
working of the business to a great extent (Strachan, Adikaram and Kailasapathy, 2015). This is
because of the reason that if the employees will not be satisfied then they will not work upto their
full capacity or potential.
For example, a company discriminates or is biased towards the males within the company
and does not give equal rights to women. Then this situation will negatively impact the company.
Firstly all the women workers will not tolerate this discrimination and will either fight for their
rights or will leave the job. The other impact will be that the goodwill and market position of the
company will go down and this will negatively impact the company.
CONCLUSION
With the thorough and in- depth study and analysis it can be interpreted that compliance
with the different types of legislations is very necessary and crucial for the success of any
business. If the company does not follow rules and regulations then there may be possibility that
the company does not work effectively as it will not have knowledge relating to different types
of laws which can be helpful for company if it complies with those laws and legislations.
The report discussed that for maintaining equality within the business it has to follow
Equality Act, 2010 along with this for diversity it needs to use Employment Equality (Religion
or Belief) Regulations, 2003. And for maintaining and promoting fair treatment it can abide by

Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, 2006. Next the report showed the importance of
prejudices, discriminatory behaviour and unconscious bias for the public service. Also, it
discussed the role of advisory services in relation with diversity, equality and fair treatment.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Durbin, S., Page, M. and Walby, S., 2017. Gender equality and ‘austerity’: Vulnerabilities,
resistance and change. Gender, Work & Organization. 24(1). pp.1-6.
Page, M., Grisoni, L. and Turner, A., 2014. Dreaming fairness and re-imagining equality and
diversity through participative aesthetic inquiry. Management Learning. 45(5). pp.577-
592.
Rankin - Wright, A.J., Hylton, K. and Norman, L., 2016. Off-colour landscape: Framing race
equality in sport coaching. Sociology of Sport Journal. 33(4). pp.357-368.
Ryan, I., Ravenswood, K. and Pringle, J.K., 2014. 10 equality and diversity in aotearoa new
Zealand. 9.78 E+ 12: Country Perspectives on Diversity and Equal Treatment, p.175.
Strachan, G., Adikaram, A. and Kailasapathy, P., 2015. Gender (in) equality in South Asia:
problems, prospects and pathways.
Online
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services. 2019. Available through: [Online].
<https://www.peninsulagrouplimited.com/guides/acas/>