Category Archives: Equality Act

Pay “audits”: a win for Lynne Featherstone despite what anyone else says

Posted on 3 December 2010 by

“Coalition abandons compulsory audits of pay gap between men and women…. in a reversal of a Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge.” So claims the Guardian and numerous others, wringing their hands. But are they right? Has the Minister really abandoned her principles, six months into power? I humbly disagree. Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, Equal pay, Equality Act, Myths, Press hyperbole, Sex discrimination | 5 Comments

How likely are you to get sued for discrimination? (Part 2)

Posted on 2 November 2010 by

As an employer your chance of winning a discrimination case at tribunal is significantly better than in any other type of tribunal case. Race discrimination is the hardest of any type of claim for an employee to prove – of all the race cases that went all the way to a hearing last year, the employer was exonerated in 84%. And the median award in most types of discrimination case was little more than in unfair dismissal cases, at around £5,000 – so half of all compensation awards were less than that. So why the panic? Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, Equality Act, Myths | 6 Comments

How likely are you to get sued for discrimination?* (Part 1)

Posted on 12 October 2010 by

Actually I’m not going to answer that just yet. But I am going to ask, “Why is the Equality Act getting such bad mainstream PR”? Business lobbyists such as the British Chambers of Commerce have complained that it is ill-timed and will discourage job-creation – but if anything is likely to discourage job creation and lead to mass panic among employers it is the recent spate of misleading anti-Equality Act articles in the right-wing popular press.
Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, Equality Act, Myths, Press hyperbole | 2 Comments

Equality Act off to a bad start: the Today programme debacle

Posted on 1 October 2010 by

The original purpose of this blog was to let me get a few things off my chest about the Equality Act. But today, I find myself compelled to stand up and defend it. Particularly from the foolishness that I found myself listening to on this morning’s Today programme. The whole interview seems founded on the suggestion that the Equality Act is all new. It isn’t. Largely, it consolidates the existing legislation. There are some important changes, although the most controversial were not brought into force and in my view probably never will be… Continue reading →

Posted in Equality Act, Myths | 4 Comments