Impact of the EU Employment Directive in the UK
Date:18-3-2003
Our colleague, Trish Thornton, of the University of York, has prepared a short note on the impact of Article 13 in the United Kingdom.
Impacts of EU Employment Directive - UK
Note for Gladnet by Patricia Thornton, Social Policy Research Unit,
University of York, March 2003
In response to the EU Employment Directive (2000) the Westminster Government has brought forward proposals to amend legislation that protects people from discrimination in employment and training on grounds of sex, race and disability, though there will be no fundamental changes to the approach.
Regulations will be laid before Parliament in Spring 2003. New legislation will be introduced to outlaw discrimination at work and in training on grounds of sexual orientation, religion and age.
It should be noted that the Government is also responding to recommendations by the Disability Rights Task Force. The Task Force was set up by the in-coming Labour Government in December 1997 and reported two years later (Disability Rights Task Force, 1999). Some of its 156 recommendations anticipated the changes required by the Employment Directive. The Government's response to the Task Force recommendations (DfEE, 2001) was published after it had considered the effects of the Employment Directive. Comments on its response were invited. The Government then published its proposals for regulations to be laid before Parliament along with proposals for the other protected groups (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002a). (In Northern Ireland a single body was established in 1999 to cover all groups given legal protection against discrimination.)
Disability regulations will come into force in October 2004.
The main changes to the DDA will be:
- ending the small employer exemption
- covering police officers, prison officers, fire-fighters, employees on
- ships, planes and hovercraft, barristers and their pupils, business partners and local councillors
- allowing claims against former employers within six months
- ending justification for failure to make a reasonable adjustment
- enabling Employment Tribunals to order (instead of recommend) reinstatement or re-engagement in cases of disability discrimination
- changes to the definition of disability to cover HIV from the point of diagnosis, and cancer from the point at which it is diagnosed as likely to require substantial treatment. People certified by an ophthalmologist or registered with a local authority as blind or partially sighted will be deemed disabled.
The future of the three existing equality commissions for race, gender and disability is being affected by the need to introduce protection against discrimination in employment and training on grounds of sexual orientation, religion and age. The Government is consulting on its preferred option of creating a single equality commission in Great Britain (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002b). The outcome of the consultations will be published in spring 2003, though new structures are not expected to be in operation before 2006.
Government argues that people are increasingly looking for equal treatment that respects the many facets of their identity and a single body would be more effective in addressing multiple discrimination. It would offer a single contact point for individuals and employers. It would also cost less than separate commissions. In defence of criticism that the DRC would be marginalized, the Government has stated that the interests of all groups must carry equal weight in a single commission.
The sex, race and disability commissions commissioned an independent comparative review of equality commissions in other countries. It concluded that a single commission can offer clear advantages in terms of developing effective cross-strand strategies, addressing overlapping and multiple forms of discrimination, and if properly established can avoid creating a hierarchy of grounds (O'Cinneide, 2002).
Department for Education and Employment (2001) Towards Inclusion: Civil rights for disabled people, London: Department for Education and Employment.
Disability Rights Task Force (1999) From Exclusion to Inclusion, London: Department for Education and Employment.
O'Cinneide, C. (2002) A Single Equality Body: Lessons from abroad, Working Paper Series No. 4, Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Office, Department of Trade and Industry, Department for Work and Pensions (2002a) Equality and Diversity: The way ahead, London.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Office, Department of Trade and Industry, Department for Work and Pensions (2002b) Equality and Diversity: Making it happen, London.
Carl Raskin
Editor
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