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Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill – the how’s, what’s and why’s

24 January 2025

Draft Equality Bill

What is the Bill?

In 2017, mandatory gender pay gap reporting was introduced for organisations with 250 employees or more. The Bill is designed to extend gender pay gap reporting and will ensure that employers with 250 employees or more will also be required to disclose any pay gaps in relation to ethnicity and disability. The Bill will therefore go further than the current requirements.

It is important to note that some employers already voluntarily disclose pay gaps beyond gender as part of their general procedures.

Why is the Bill being introduced?

The Bill is being introduced to enhance transparency in organisations and to identify where issues exist. This will allow employers the chance to consider why the disparities exist and focus on ways to resolve the pay gaps.

When is the Bill expected to come into force?

There is no set date yet. The government is expected to begin consulting on this legislation shortly, with a draft bill anticipated by Spring 2025. The Bill will then need to be debated by parliament, so it may well be next year before we see the Bill come into effect.

What do employers need to do?

It would be good practice for employers to:

  • Ensure that they have up-to-date ethnicity and disability data, as well as gender data, to enable them to analyse such data and calculate any pay gaps
  • Ensure that data collected is representative of the entire workforce
  • Review salaries, job level structure and grading where appropriate, to ensure that they can compare pay levels accurately
  • Conduct equal pay reviews, where appropriate
  • Create action plans to resolve unjustifiable differences.

Case law updates

Higgs v Farmor’s School [2023] EAT 89

In this case, a pastoral administrator of Christian faith posted her views on LGBT+ relationships on her private Facebook profile and was subsequently dismissed after the school received a complaint from a parent. She brought claims in the tribunal on the grounds

of religion and belief. These claims were dismissed, with the tribunal finding that the school’s reason for dismissal were that it had concerns that someone reasonably reading the posts could consider that she held transphobic and homophobic views.

This was found to be the reason for her dismissal, not that she was dismissed on the grounds of her protected beliefs, as she had claimed.

The administrator subsequently appealed this decision, and her appeal was accepted by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”), as they did not consider that the tribunal had applied the correct ‘proportionality’ test when making their decision. The EAT will now apply the correct test and it is expected that a decision will be made this year.

Miller v University of Bristol [2024] ET 1400780/2022

Dr Miller was appointed as Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. In 2019, there were complaints about his conduct from two Jewish undergraduate students, including what was said to be the use of ‘antisemitic’ language. The University appointed an independent barrister to investigate this, but it was found that there was no formal case to answer.

In February 2021, Dr Miller took part in an event called “Building the Campaign for Free Speech”. The University received a significant volume of correspondence, expressing concerns about statements that had been made by Dr Miller. He was later dismissed by the University for gross misconduct.

The tribunal held that anti-Zionist beliefs amount to a philosophical belief qualifying for protection under section 10 Equality Act 2010. He was therefore found to have been subject to direct discrimination and to have been unfairly dismissed.

This case shows that a wide range of beliefs can be protected by the Equality Act 2010. Employers should take care when handing complaints relating to protected characteristics and striking a balance between protecting those affected by a person’s particular beliefs, and the holder of those beliefs, from being subject to discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

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