1. The Equality Act 2010 – the basics
Sarah Guise
Equalities and Diversity Coordinator
Introduce self
Used to be a teacher abroad in Greece, Spain and Mexico
Also taught multilingual groups in London, including academic English, so familiar with language issues
Worked in Equalities and Diversity and human rights for 8 years and at UCL for 2 years

2. Equality Act (Royal Assent Apr 2010)
The stated aim of the Act is to reform and harmonise discrimination law, and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. As the Act is brought into force, it will replace all existing equality legislation, including the Equal Pay Act (1970).

3. Timeline for implementation
October 2010: employment, equal pay and services, public functions and associations, education (further and higher)
April 2011: The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) replacing the current public sector duties in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2006.
2012: The ban on age discrimination in provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions comes into effect.
the socio-economic duty, gender pay gap information, positive action in recruitment and promotion and dual discrimination protection all deferred from Oct implementation

4. Legally protected categories in higher education?
Age
Political belief
Socio-economic status
Religion
Philosophical belief
Sexual orientation
Class
Weight
Marital status
Pregnancy
Gender reassignment
Sex
Race
Height
Nationality
Disability
10 PCs (or sub categories of PCs)

5. Protected characteristics
‘Protected characteristics’ (formerly referred to as ‘equality strands’) are the grounds upon which discrimination is unlawful. The protected characteristics under the Act are:
age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief (including lack of belief )
sex
sexual orientation

6. Prohibited conduct Direct discrimination Discrimination by association
Discrimination by perception
Combined discrimination: dual characteristics*
Indirect discrimination
Harassment (incl. 3rd party)
Victimisation
Discrimination ‘arising from’ disability
3rd party harassment – three strikes rule:
The employer is only liable if they knew that the woman or man has been subject to such harassment in the course of their employment on at least two other occasions by a third party. It is immaterial whether the third party is the same or a different person on each occasion.

7. Employees or people seeking work
The provisions for direct and indirect discrimination and victimisation apply where the employer is making arrangements to fill a job, and in respect of anything done in the course of a person’s employment:
terms of offer
access to opportunities for promotion
transfer or training
receiving benefits
facility or service
dismissal
subjecting employees to detriment

8. The Equality Act – teaching and learning provisions
Section 91 prohibits discrimination by universities:
in the way it provides education for the student
by subjecting the student to any other detriment
Teaching methods, delivery and related issues such as assessment all need to comply with the main provisions of the Act

9. Public sector equality duty
The new duty covers all of the protected characteristics apart from marriage and civil partnership. The duty will require HEIs to have due regard to the need to:
eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act
advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it
foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it

10. Public sector equality duty
To advance equality of opportunity, HEIs will need to have due regard, in particular, to the need to:
remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic
take steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of people who do not share it
encourage people who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such people is disproportionately low

11. Employment data
More transparency with equality data so UCL is accountable to the wider public
HEIs will need to publish their gender pay gap figures* and their employment rates for black and minority ethnic staff and disabled staff.

12. Positive action*
extended to recruitment and promotion of employees
‘equally qualified’ to mean the situation in which there are ‘two or more applicants for a job who would be able to do it equally well – although they may do it differently depending on their skills and qualities’.

13. Case study 1
A Bloomsbury department is being restructured and relocated to North London. A staff member with mobility issues who used to get a lift to work will now need to use public transport to get to North London. He has asked if he can work from home 2 or 3 days a week to reduce the amount of time they spend on public transport. His main role is to troubleshoot IT problems.

14. Case study 2
A man in your female-dominated team is a big fan of Kylie and Strictly Come Dancing. He lives in Hampstead with his wife and daughter. Some of gay colleagues joke he is a ‘gay man trapped in a straight man’s body’. He seems to find this funny, and often responds wittily, but you notice he has taken down some of the music posters by his desk.

15. Case study 3
A post doc researcher from the Czech republic is working in a medical research lab. The Principle Investigator in the lab is Greek is so are the majority of researchers and PhD students. Often Greek is the default language in the department, especially around non-work discussions. The Czech woman is concerned that her work is being overlooked and complains of poor sleep.

16. Case study 4
A Muslim student based in a UCL department in Queen’s Square has asked if there are any prayer facilities she can use. You explain that UCL has a Quiet Contemplation Room on the main campus. She is concerned that during the winter months she will need to walk there and back up to three times and day, taking up to an hour and a half.

17. Case study 5
There is a woman in the Estates and Facilities Division who has just joined from the private sector as a surveyor. She is from Essex and looks around 25. When she started she was full of ideas in team meetings, but her contributions were rarely acknowledged and minuted. More recently you have noticed that she keeps herself to herself and diligently gets on with her own work.

18. Case study 6
A Mexican student complains that the security staff who work in her department say ‘hello gorgeous’ when she comes into the building. She was surprised the first time as she didn’t expect this in the UK, but the second time it happened, she was irritated and has started using the other entrance. You have spoken to your Head of Department who says there is nothing you can do as they are not UCL security staff.

19. Questions?