Employment Law and Relations - Essay Example

EMPLOYMENT LAW AND RELATIONS By Location Contents Introduction 4 The Advantages of the Equality Act 5 Limitations 6 Two protected characteristics 7 Disability 7 Race 9 Conclusion 10 Bibliography 12 Employment Law and Relations Introduction In every country in the world, the protection of employee against any form of discrimination is a core practice as many nations have put in place legislations that aim at achieving this objective. In the UK, there is the Equality Act of 2010 that was legislated by the UK parliament and was heavily influenced by the EU law on discrimination. As a mandatory requirement of the law, all organisations have the responsibility of treating all employees equally and fairly irrespective of the attributes or shortcomings that the employees might have. The law resulted from the codifying of various acts and legislations that were against different types of discrimination.Some of these legislations were the Equal Pay of 1970, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995.The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 provided a basis for the development of the 2010 legislation (Wadham et.al 2010, p. 3). The law also provides protection to employees against being discriminated for their religious faith or belief, age and their sexual preferences and also provides for equality when it comes to employment access to all people. The Equality Act of 2010 has nine characteristics that ensure that the same act protects every citizen in Britain. This essay will discuss the advantages and limitations of the Equality Act of 2010 concerning anti-discrimination within organisations in which the discussion will evaluate the provisions that protect individuals in employment relationships. Further, the essay will delve on disability and race as two out of the nine protected characteristics that are contained in the Equality Act. The Advantages of the Equality Act 2010 One of the notable advantages that the Equality Act 2010 attracts is that safeguards employees against any form of discrimination, which was established so as to strengthen the legislations that were there that prohibited discrimination. In 2010, the Act became the main law that prohibited any form of discrimination in the workplace.The Act placed emphasis on ageism, training, education, and employment (Smith, Wood & Baker 2013, p. 404). In essence, the laws cover areas pertaining to the ways in which individuals can be treated by higher education institutions and trade bodies other than just employment organisations. The law states that all individuals have the right not to be treated as disadvantaged or discriminated against because of their age. An additional advantage of the Act is that it protects the older citizens. After the implementation of the Act, they can receive fair treatment and access goods and services that were introduced in 2012 (Workplace law group 2011, p. 18). The Act also protects individuals against two forms of discrimination that are prohibited by the act. The two forms of discrimination mentioned above are direct discrimination and indirect discrimination.Direct discrimination involves unfair treatment based on protected characteristics. Some of the protected characteristics include age, religion, race, sex, gender reassignment, disability, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage or civil partnership. On the other hand, indirect discrimination denotes organisational practices and practices and policies that have the potential to present a group of people with disadvantages. The Act also protects individuals against harassment where individuals might be subjected to behaviour that they may consider to be intimidating, degrading, humiliating or one that makes the environment they work in not to be conducive.Specifically, the Act protects older persons against remarks that might be offensive based on their age in their places of work or with their associates. The act also protects against victimisation especially in cases where one reports incidences of being unfairly treatedand allows them to feel safe without the fear of facing consequences (Government Equalities Office 2013). Another advantage is that through the act individuals are assured of their contracts not being terminated based on their protected characteristic and encourages their fair treatment with regards to this. Additionally, the Act allows the older people to retire willingly and not forcing them to do so when they attain the age of 65. Other than safeguarding the interests of older people, the Act is also an advantage to women. It advocates for women working the same jobs as men to be paid equally with their male counterparts hence safeguarding against gender discrimination.The clause implied in the act that serves as an advantage to women is that a sex equality clause has to be included in the employment contracts of women that should not be less favourable than that of men. The Act protects against victimization of this protected characteristic under sex. The act also protects against discrimination, victimisation or harassment of individuals because of their religion and allows people to access employment irrespective of their religious affiliations. Therefore, individuals should not fear being denied the opportunities they seek either, study or work related because of their beliefs. Limitations Analysts argue that the Equality Act 2010 has an error that made an ineffective compromise in terms of settling claims or equal pay. In essence, the act stipulates that an employee seeking a compromise agreement has to be advised by an independent advisor that is not specified. The fact that the independent advisor is not defined means that this requirement is vague.For this reason, the actual individual supposed to advise an employee might be locked out, making the process of seeking a compromise agreement unfair.The EU has focused on harmonizing equality issues within its member states, but its efforts are yet to have a remarkable effect. The major grey area that this act fails to address is that of religion and belief because individuals are allowed to practice their culture freely irrespective of how their practices might affect other people. The act does not impose restrictions on the extent that individuals are allowed to practice their beliefs based on freedom of religion being a fundamental religious right. However, the act was cautious so as not to infringe on the freedoms that might otherwise suggest that the country is discriminating towards race and religion (Bhamra2013, p. 73). As much as there is the provision for people to be free to follow their religious paths, the provision should also be limited to protect people from being affected by the religious practices of other individuals. The implication of this is that this freedom has to attract some restrictions for it to live up to its name that advocates for equality. Additionally, the Acts are also not clear on the elements of race and the rights of immigrants that at some point end up becoming British Citizens. Reforms should be introduced so that they can allow immigrants that become British to have equal access to the opportunities that are available to the native British if the act is to achieve the equality that it seeks. Two protected characteristics Disability The act asserts that a disabled person has the right to be protected against discrimination in areas such as employment, education and in terms of how the police should handle them. The United Nations Convention promotes the rights of the disabled and the Equality Act 2010 as the two help in enforcing the rights provided. According the Act, it is unlawful for employers to discriminate against disabled persons because of their protected characteristics.For example, the mentioned unlawful actions may be evident in areas such as job offers, employment terms, promotion, dismissal, transfer, application forms, proficiency tests, discipline, and grievances among others. As per the Act, an employer is required by law to make the necessary adjustments so as to avoid putting the disabled individuals at a disadvantage when compared to the non-disabled individuals within the same workplace. For this reason, an employer is required to make available equipment that can help disabled individuals to do the work required of them or adjust working hours so as to allow them to work effectively. The Equality Act 2010 advocates for those in charge of recruitment within an organisation to make minimal enquiries about a person’s health or disability, but can be allowed to do so under special conditions.The conditions include finding out whether the person in questions can execute a task that is required of them as part of their work. Managers responsible for recruitment can also ask such questions if the organisations need to increase the percentage of disabled persons working for the organisation. They also need to know so that they are at par with the national security requirements or for the purposes of monitoring the organisations progress. As much as employers are allowed to find out about a person’s disability during a job interview, it is important for them to ask the questions in a proper manner and force individuals to answer. It would be necessary for them to point out to the interviewee why finding out about their health status or disability is relevant. The act also protects the disabled against being chosen for redundancy based on the fact that one has a disability meaning that the process of redundancy should be free, fair and balanced. Concerning education, the Act prohibits against direct, indirect or discrimination based on disability when it comes to educational access. Those involved in education provision are required to make necessary adjustments to their institutions so as not to disadvantage those with disabilities. The law also requires that all public schools identify and assess children that have special needs and also develop plans to support them. As a requirement of the act, institutions of higher learning must have an individual in charge of the issues of the disabled that focuses on addressing the issues of the disabled. The act also has certain provisions when a disabled individual is being interrogated by the police depending on the impairment that they have. Those with hearing or speech difficulties should be provided with interpreters during their interview and for those with learning disabilities should have a responsible adult present during the interview. As per the Act, a disabled individual has the right of not being kept in a police cell without them having a medical examination by a health worker or a general practitioner. Race Race as specified in the act is defined by colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins. As a protected characteristic, it is unlawful for individuals to be discriminatedbased on race or racial group. The Equality Act 2010 repealed the 1976 Race Relations Act when it was enforced in 2010. It also protects against victimization, harassment, and discrimination of individuals because of their relation racial attributes (Merrills & Fisher 2013, p. 497). Direct discrimination, and indirect discrimination are also prohibited by this act and also stretches to include matters about access to education access to individuals based on their race. Exceptions exist when it comes to race when it comes to matters of national security or Crown employment. The hiring criteria for individuals are entirely based on the provision of the act about equal and fair processes and can only be breached in the event that there is a compromise contract or a conciliated settlement. Another provision of the act is that an individual with a protected characteristic might be promoted in favour of those that do not have the same in certain and defined circumstances. Pension schemes are also obligated by the Act to have a non-discriminatory rule, meaning that it should not discriminate individuals from a different racial group. Other employment benefits are also required by the act to take a similar approach for those within this protected characteristic. Additionally, all public authorities are required by this law to have zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment, and victimisation.Moreover, they should provide equal opportunities between those that are tied by a particular protected interest and those that are not. Their responsibility is also ensuring that those that are bound a similar protected characteristic of race are those that do not have good relations with the environment they live in to be conducive. However, there are no legislations that safeguard their interest in terms of voting and exercising other civil duties, which should be an area of concern for legislators. Once these are included, the Equality Act 2010 will be able to meet its objective of protecting against all forms of discrimination for people of disability and race protected characteristics. Conclusion The enactment of the Equality Act 2010 was a reprieve to many British citizens because its contents were an expansion of other acts that were aimed at protecting their rights. The act seeks to protect the protected characteristics against victimisation, discrimination and harassment of any kind. The act also prohibits indirect or indirect discriminations of individuals at their work places, in education institutions or in associations. People with disabilities and those from different races have their interests protected by this act because it protects them against any discrimination. Employers and education institutions are allowed to make necessary changes in their institutions so as to prevent people with disabilities from being disadvantaged to those without. People with disabilities and those from different races have the right to equal opportunity access in terms of employment and education because this is a provision in the act. The act also protects the aged population against discrimination because of their age and allows for them to retire at will or as per the standard retirement age. The Equality Act 2010 has been significant in making sure that there is equality among British citizens despite its limitations. One limitation is that of not being specific on the independent advisor that an employee should seek advice from when it comes to compliance agreements. Regardless of this, the Equality Act 2010 is an important legislation as it considers the rights of the protected characteristics at the fore front as advocated by the EU. Bibliography Bhamra, MK 2013, The challenges of justice in diverse societies: Constitutionalism, Ashgate Publishing. Government Equalities Office 2013, Information and guidance on the Equality Act 2010, including age discrimination and public sector Equality Duty. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/equality-act-2010-guidance [25 June 2015] Merrills, J & Fisher, J 2013, Pharmacy Law and Practice Fourth Edition, Burlington, Elsevier Science. Smith, IT, Wood, JC & Baker, A 2013,Smith & Woods employment law, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Wadham, J 2010, Blackstones guide to the Equality Act 2010, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Workplace Law Group 2011, Health and safety, premises and environment handbook 2012, London, Kogan Page. Read More