2024 promises to be a busy year for employment legislation and there are still more proposals of change this week from the Labour Party with the announcement of their plans to expand discrimination legislation.
In widely reported commentary this week, Labour proposes to introduce the following reforms to discrimination legislation under their planned Race Equality Act:
- Additional requirements for organizations to include mandatory reporting and training obligations;
- An extension to equal pay claims to cover claims based on ethnicity and disability; and
- The introduction of the right to claim dual discrimination.
Reporting and Training
Labour has advised that measures to be covered by the Race Equality Act would include mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting, a requirement for police officers and staff to undertake anti-racism training and ensuring diversity in school curriculums. The proposed act would also mandate public services to gather and report on staffing and pay based on ethnicity.
Extension to Equal Pay Claims
At present, the right to bring an equal pay claim is limited to differences in pay on the grounds of sex. The premise of the proposal to extend this right appears to be to allow ethnic minorities and people with disabilities to make equal pay claims.
Current employment legislation does already afford protection to employees seeking to redress any difference in pay based on a protected characteristic. Where an employer discriminates against an employee on the grounds of race or disability, the employee could bring a claim for direct or indirect discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and the tribunal will consider whether any difference in pay is direct or indirect discrimination.
Labour has stated that the extension to equal pay based on ethnicity and disability would be phased in following a period of consultation to allow employers time to adapt to the amendments and address any differences in pay.
Right to Claim Dual Discrimination
Dual discrimination refers to where an individual claims they have been discriminated against for having two or more protected characteristics. There is a nonimplemented provision in the Equality Act 2010 referring to dual discrimination, which could be revived by Labour rather than require completely new legislation.
Comment
Whilst the intention of these proposals is to expand protection from discrimination, the reality is that the reforms are likely to make employment claims even more complex, costly and slower to resolve. Instead of easing the backlog in tribunals, adding further complexity to discrimination claims will almost certainly increase the case burden on the employment tribunals.
It should be noted that these plans for reform are in addition to the “cast iron commitment” to bring forward an employment rights bill within the first 100 days of a Labour government as announced by the Labour Party at the TUC conference in Liverpool on 12 September 2023.
As stated from the outset, 2024 will be a busy year in employment legislation and already shows no signs of slowing down. Please do get in touch if we can support you in any way with keeping ahead of the changes.