Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 brought together previous discrimination legislation into a single framework. Four main types of discrimination: direct (treated worse because of a protected characteristic), indirect (a policy that disadvantages those with the characteristic), harassment (unwanted conduct related to the characteristic), and victimisation (treated worse because they raised a discrimination concern). Section 19 covers indirect discrimination; section 26 harassment; section 27 victimisation. Public sector equality duty (s.149) imposes duties on public bodies. Reasonable adjustments duty (ss.20-22) requires anticipation and removal of barriers for disabled people.

In practice, the first question in any Equality Act case is which type of discrimination you are alleging, because each has a different structure. Direct discrimination needs a comparison with how someone without your characteristic was or would have been treated, and — apart from age — cannot be justified. Indirect discrimination does not need bad intent at all: a neutral rule applied to everyone can still be unlawful if it puts your group at a particular disadvantage and the employer cannot show it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Worked example: an employer introduces a rule that all staff must work full time. Amira, who works part time because she is her mother's carer and is disabled herself, is disadvantaged. She may have an indirect sex discrimination claim, because women are statistically more likely to have caring responsibilities, and a separate reasonable adjustments claim relating to her disability. She raises a grievance setting out both, keeps a diary of dates and comments, and starts ACAS early conciliation. Because there is no fee to bring an employment tribunal claim, the practical barrier is not cost but time: discrimination claims must generally be started within three months less one day of the act complained of, with the clock paused during conciliation.

The misconceptions are widespread. You do not need to have been dismissed — the Act covers recruitment, pay, promotion, training and everyday treatment. You do not need a formal diagnosis to be disabled; what matters is a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on day-to-day activities. Harassment does not require the conduct to be aimed at you, only that it relates to a protected characteristic and creates a hostile or degrading environment. And victimisation protects you even if your original complaint turns out to be wrong, provided you made it in good faith.

The Act defines the nine protected characteristics and imposes the reasonable adjustments duty; employment claims run through the employment tribunal after early conciliation. Read our guides to workplace discrimination and disability at work, and act quickly because the time limits are short.