EU Warns UK on Equality
posted: 14/12/2009
The government faces legal action by the European Commission for not doing enough to protect people from discrimination at work. This threatens the Equalities Bill now going through Parliament.
The European commission says parts of UK law, including provisions on sexual orientation and disability, are inadequate. They fail to properly implement several Equalities Directions signed unanimously by European countries way back in 2002. The EU could take the UK government to the European court of justice.
Sexuality : fail
The EU sent the government two official opinions last month, and these include a warning that the law that applies to faith-based organisations, schools and adoption agencies allows far too much discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
"This could be difficult for the government," said Robin Allen QC, head of Cloisters chambers. "The extent to which religious organisations are exempt from the rules of sexual orientation discrimination is a particularly difficult issue. The government will certainly resist any strengthening to the current law in an election year."
HIV Class Actions missed : fail
Other parts of UK law singled out by the EU's equal opportunities commissioner include the lack of a ban on "instructions to discriminate", where a person is discriminated against because of the actions of a third party, and the lack of clear provisions for class actions. Class actions are an important right, particularly for stigmatised groups like people with HIV, who are often very reluctant to make formal complaints. Organisations, like George House Trust, should be able to take class actions on behalf of a group of people to challenge illegal discrimination.
"The government has kept promising to address group claims and, as a matter of good practice, lawyers have been saying it should happen. But no one had picked up that failing to do so would breach the EC directive – this came as a total surprise," said Rachel Harfield, an employment law solicitor at Russell Jones & Walker.
UK only EU state to fail on equalities
Last month, the long-awaited equality bill was included in the Queen's speech for a second year and was presumed to be compliant with EU requirements. News of the warning from the commission means the UK is the only European country to have failed to implement two key EU directives on discrimination.
"This directive was agreed unanimously by all EU countries in 2002 but, to be effective, it needs to be fully and correctly transposed into national law," said Vladimir Spidla, EU commissioner for equal opportunities. "We call on the UK government to make the necessary changes to its gender equality legislation as soon as possible so as to fully comply with the EU rules."
Two months to answer
The government has two months to respond. The general election has to be held within the next six months and Parliament has to finish all business about a month before the election. A spokesman for the government's Equalities Office said: "We take our European legal obligations seriously. We will be studying the reasoned opinions carefully and will reply to the commission in the new year. The equality bill will be continuing its progress through parliament during the fifth session."
The criticism will embarrass the government. The bill, which replaces nine existing laws and more than 100 other measures, was intended to end this patchwork mess with a single law.
"One of the criticisms of the existing equality legislation is that there are too many pieces of legislation," said Harfield. "The equality bill is supposed to be a consolidation – the last thing the government would want is to introduce an equality bill as it stands, and then have to introduce new legislation further down the line. That would make a mockery of what the bill is supposed to do."
Multiple discriminations : Fail
Experts have welcomed many of the bill's provisions, but some see it as a "missed opportunity" for failing to develop the law on equal pay or to allow claims with more than two grounds. This is another issue that affects people with HIV. Many people with HIV tick several equality boxes and discrimination may be because of HIV (disability), sexuality, ethnicity, and gender. Often discrimination may be for more than one of these reasons, but to make a claim at present you can only pick one. That choice is a gamble and Europe says there is no need for this.
Allen said: "One of the biggest issues with the equality bill is the attempt to redraw the lines between gay people and evangelicals – there will be concerns that any further demands for changes could interfere with the legislative process."
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