This chapter is concerned with the principle of equality, otherwise termed non-discrimination, as it arises under common law, EU law, and under the ECHR. The Wednesbury threshold of unreasonableness applies to common law challenges while the proportionality test will be applied to challenges based on a breach of EU law or of the ECHR. At common law the doctrine has been recognised as an important ground for challenging decisions if it is alleged that discretionary choices have been tainted by discrimination. Under EU law, the principle of equality is found at a number of different levels that include general principles of law, the Treaty, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The chapter also shows how challenges on grounds of direct or indirect discrimination may fall within the ambit of Article 14 of the ECHR. The discussion is informed by detailed analysis of relevant case law.
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This chapter examines equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law. It discusses the provisions of human rights laws, conventions, and declarations designed to address problems related to sex, race, and religious discrimination. The chapter suggests a link between the concept of equality and that of non-discrimination, and that the rule of non-discrimination is basically the negative restatement of the principle of equality.
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This chapter examines equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law. It discusses the provisions of human rights laws, conventions, and declarations, and emerging grounds of discrimination will also be considered. As human rights are focused on the individual, it is perhaps not surprising that there are many people who are disadvantaged or marginalized in the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms due to the intersecting of two or more grounds of discrimination. The chapter suggests that there is a link between the concepts of equality and that of non-discrimination, and that the rule of non-discrimination is basically the negative restatement of the principle of equality.
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The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about equality law. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of equality law including the range of protected characteristics, direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and the duty to make reasonable adjustments. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.
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The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about equality law. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of equality law including the range of protected characteristics, direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and the duty to make reasonable adjustments. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.
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This chapter focuses on discrimination prohibited in employment. It first looks at sex discrimination, which, as it developed both in respect of abundant case law and of legislation, has contributed much to the development of the more general principle of equal treatment. It then considers other forms of discrimination included in the directives made under Article 19 of the TFEU.
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Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. Applicants for jobs must not be asked about their health or disability in the recruitment process. Prohibited conduct refers to direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimisation. Segregation on racial grounds is also prohibited. In addition, there is no minimum period of employment needed before one can make a discrimination claim.
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This chapter discusses anti-discrimination law in the UK in the employment sphere. After providing a brief history of the development of UK discrimination law, it introduces the Equality Act 2010, explaining the forms of discrimination it covers and how it works. Key concepts of equality law are then discussed, including direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimization. The chapter examines each protected characteristic in turn, highlighting the issues specific to each, including equal pay, sex-discriminatory dress codes, the additional protections against discrimination afforded to disabled people, compulsory retirement ages, and the apparent clash between protections against sexual orientation discrimination and religious discrimination.
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This chapter examines the pros and cons of interfering in the labour market via the promulgation of anti-discrimination laws. It evaluates the basic theoretical constructs which are relevant to a proper understanding of anti-discrimination law in the UK and the EU, including the possible policy responses (e.g. the distinction between formal equality and substantive equality). It briefly assesses the historical development of anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, and then analyses key statutory concepts such as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment. Finally, the chapter considers victimization—an important issue since there is little purpose in statutory concepts if the employer can intimidate the employee, thus preventing him/her from bringing or continuing proceedings on one of these bases and/or by subjecting him/her to retaliation.
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4. Discrimination
The protected characteristics
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on ss 4–12 Equality Act 2010. The Act protects people from discrimination in relation to nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It also protects people from discrimination by association with someone who has one of the protected characteristics and from discrimination by perception (eg discrimination because of sexual orientation includes discrimination against those one perceives to be gay, even if they are not).
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Daniel Moeckli
The principle of equality and non-discrimination has gained a prominent status in virtually every liberal democratic state as well as in international law. However, what this fundamental rule entails in practice is difficult to establish. The challenge is to give substance to the abstract notion of equality by translating it into concrete legal formulations that clarify which forms of unequal treatment are legitimate because they are based on morally acceptable criteria and which ones are wrongful. This chapter explains how this challenge has been addressed in international human rights law. It is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the meaning of equality and non-discrimination. Section 3 gives an overview of the different norms guaranteeing equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law. Section 4 explains the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination. Section 5 considers the requirements for a difference in treatment to be justified under international human rights law, and Section 6 sets out the various obligations that the right to equality imposes on states, in particular their duty to take positive action to ensure everyone can enjoy this right.
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This chapter considers those provisions of the Equality Act 2010 that relate to employment law. These generally are to be found in Parts 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Act, together with provisions found in various schedules. Topics discussed include key concepts of the Act; various types of prohibited conduct such as direct and indirect discrimination; the protected characteristics in the Equality Act (namely age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation); defences such as justification and occupational requirements; discrimination in employment; provisions in the Equality Act that are common to all of the protected characteristics; comparators; occupational requirements; submitting a complaint; enforcement powers of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and other protected groups. It also covers ex-offenders and rehabilitation periods.
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Daniel Moeckli
The principle of equality and non-discrimination has gained a prominent status in virtually every liberal democratic state as well as in international law. However, what this fundamental rule entails in practice is difficult to establish. The challenge is to give substance to the abstract notion of equality by translating it into concrete legal formulations that clarify which forms of unequal treatment are legitimate because they are based on morally acceptable criteria and which ones are wrongful. This chapter explains how this challenge has been addressed in international human rights law. It first discusses the meaning of equality and non-discrimination and gives an overview of the different norms guaranteeing equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law, followed by an explanation of the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination. The chapter then considers the requirements for a difference in treatment to be justified under international human rights law and sets out the various obligations that the right to equality imposes on states, in particular their duty to take positive action to ensure everyone can enjoy that right.
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This chapter introduces the field of discrimination law, explaining why it takes the form it does and summarizing the critical arguments often advanced concerning the whole body of anti-discrimination legislation. The scope of anti-discrimination law has widened very considerably over the past twenty years, principally as a result of EU law protecting people on grounds such as age, sexual orientation, religion, and fixed-term or part-time status. Different areas of discrimination law vary in respect of possible defences when an alleged act of unlawful discrimination has taken place. How far positive discrimination is lawful also varies. Some argue that anti-discrimination law may harm those it aims to protect by distorting the market and discouraging the hiring of under-represented groups. There is much debate about whether it is possible to establish a general principle to help define who exactly should be protected by discrimination law, in what ways, and on what basis.
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This chapter deals with race discrimination law under the Equality Act. Race includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. The chapter discusses the historical and legal background of race discrimination law, protected characteristics, prohibited conduct on grounds of race discrimination, and bringing an action in the employment tribunal. Race discrimination legislation mirrors that of other discrimination law. It covers direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment. For direct discrimination, it also looks at perceptive and associative discrimination, and considers who the comparator may be. It also looks at occupational requirements, which are a defence to an accusation of direct discrimination.
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This chapter considers those provisions of the Equality Act 2010 that relate to employment law. These generally are to be found in Parts 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Act, together with provisions found in various schedules. Topics discussed include key concepts of the Act; various types of prohibited conduct such as direct and indirect discrimination; the protected characteristics as identified by the Equality Act; discrimination in employment; provisions in the Equality Act that are common to all of the protected characteristics; comparators; occupational requirements; submitting a complaint; enforcement powers of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and other protected groups.
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This chapter analyses the ‘protected characteristics’ in the Equality Act 2010. These include sex, gender re-assignment, pregnancy, and maternity discrimination; race discrimination; religion or belief discrimination; sexual orientation, marriage, and civil partnership discrimination; and age discrimination. It examines these protected characteristics in detail, including some of the ‘boundary disputes’ which arise in the case of some of them. It then explores the genuine occupational requirements exception; the mechanics of the reversed burden of proof in discrimination cases; and the law of vicarious liability in the context of discrimination. Finally, the chapter sets out the various remedies available where a claimant is successful in his/her discrimination complaint before an employment tribunal.
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The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions along with examiner’s tips, answer plans, and suggested answers about EU law on sex discrimination and equality. The questions have been divided into a general question on the inclusion of sex discrimination provision in the first place; problem questions on aspects of equal pay and equal treatment; an essay question on a specific development in this area of law, which considers the overlapping area of pay and pensions and a problem on pregnancy-related matters; and an essay question on the expansion of areas protected by equality legislation.
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This chapter examines the protection of the freedom of discrimination in the European Convention on Human Rights, discusses the provisions of Article 14 and Protocol 12, and explains the issues to consider in evaluating allegations of violations of Article 14. It highlights the problems in the application of Article 14 and suggests that the range of ratifications to Protocol 12 does not suggest that the development of a generic equality law under the Convention is foreseeable. The chapter also analyses the judgments made by the Strasbourg Court in relation to Article 14 and Protocol 12. It notes the development of indirect discrimination and the Court’s increasing use of ‘stereotyping’, intersectionality, and vulnerability in its judgments.
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The Equality Act was passed to harmonise the myriad of statutes and regulations that previously combined to make the body of discrimination law. The Act therefore brings all the disparate legislation together, and purports to establish a consistent body of anti-discrimination law. This chapter discusses the scope of the Act and the protected characteristics and explains prohibited conduct such as direct discrimination (including associative and perceived discrimination), indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation, positive action, burden of proof, remedies if discrimination is proved, and debates over the issue of direct and indirect discrimination, such as whether each should be capable of justification
