16-07-10 10:12

Acas publishes Equality Act guidance

Acas, the employment relations service, has launched new guidance to help businesses understand and prepare for the changes to the new single Equality Act.

The new guidance, The Equality Act – what's new for employers?, outlines what these changes mean in practice. 

Changes have occurred in the following areas:

• Third party harassment – employers are potentially liable if their staff are harassed by people they don't employ such as external suppliers or customers.
• Pre-employment health checks – from October employers should no longer send out pre-health questionnaires with employment application packs. There are some exemptions, for example around questions related to making reasonable adjustments for the person in the selection process if they are disabled.
• Powers of employment tribunal recommendations – employment tribunals can require employers found guilty of discrimination to take steps to require them to change their policies and practices to prevent further discrimination.
• Pay secrecy – if your contract of employment requires your employees to keep pay secret, you will find that the equality act make this requirement unenforceable. An employer can still require employees to keep pay rates confidential from others outside the workplace, such as competitors.  

John Taylor Acas Chief Executive said: “Fairness in the workplace is good business and motivates staff as well as improving effectiveness and productivity. Last year Acas received around 32,000 calls on diversity and discrimination-related issues.  Our new guide helps businesses and managers understand what the changes mean in practice and what action employers will need to take.” 

In addition, the Equality act table provides a snapshot of where changes and new areas have been added.