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United Kingdom employment equality law is a body of law which legislates against prejudice-based actions in the workplace. As an integral part of UK labour law it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because they have one of the "protected characteristics", which are, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. The primary legislation is the Equality Act 2010, which outlaws discrimination in access to education, public services, private goods and services or premises in addition to employment. This follows three major European Union Directives, and is supplement by other Acts like the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Furthermore discrimination on the grounds of work status, as a part-time worker, fixed term employee, agency worker or union membership is banned as a result of a combination of statutory instruments and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, again following European law. Disputes are typically resolved in the workplace in consultation with an employer or trade union, or with advice from a solicitor, ACAS or the Citizens Advice Bureau a claim may be brought in an employment tribunal. The Equality Act 2006 established the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a body designed to strengthen enforcement of equality laws.〔The EHRC replaced the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission, and the Disability Rights Commission.〕 Discrimination is unlawful when an employer is hiring a person, in the terms and conditions of contract that are offered, in making a decision to dismiss a worker, or any other kind of detriment. "Direct discrimination", which means treating a person less favourably than another who lacks the protected characteristic, is always unjustified and unlawful, with the exception of age. It is lawful to discriminate against a person because of their age, however, only if there is a legitimate business justification accepted by a court. Where there is an "occupational requirement" direct discrimination is lawful, so that for instance an employer could refuse to hire a male actor to play a female role in a play, where that is indispensable for the job. "Indirect discrimination" is also unlawful, and this exists when an employer applies a policy to their workplace that affects everyone equally, but it has a disparate impact on a greater proportion of people of one group with a protected characteristic than another, and there is no good business justification for that practice. Disability differs from other protected characteristics in that employers are under a positive duty to make reasonable adjustments to their workplace to accommodate the needs of handicapped staff. For age, belief, gender, race and sexuality there is generally no positive obligation to promote equality, and positive discrimination is generally circumscribed by the principle that merit must be regarded as the most important characteristic of a person. In the field of equal pay between men and women, the rules differ in the scope for comparators. Any dismissal because of discrimination is automatically unfair and entitles a person to claim under the Employment Rights Act 1996 section 94 no matter how long they have worked. ==History== Anti-discrimination law is a recent development. Religious discrimination was first tackled by laws aimed at Roman Catholics. The Papists Act 1778 was the first act that addressed legal discrimination against Roman Catholics, but it was not until the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 that Catholics were considered fully emancipated. A year later, in 1830, debates began on the subject of making similar provisions for Jews. A strong Tory lobby in Parliament prevented any furtherance of this cause until the Religious Opinions Act 1846, although this only went some way towards acceptance of all religious viewpoints. It was only the Reform Act 1867 that saw extension of the vote to every male householder. Women were also marginalised from general social participation. The first changes came at municipal level, particular in the Birmingham Municipal Council from the 1830s. The Chartists from the mid 19th century, and the Suffragettes after the turn of the 20th century lobbied for universal suffrage against a conservative judiciary and a liberal political establishment. In ''Nairn v The University Court of the University of St Andrews'' (1907), Lord McLaren even proclaimed that it is "a principle of the unwritten constitutional law of this country that men only were entitled to take part in the election of representatives to Parliament."〔(1907) 15 SLT 471, 473〕 The Representation of the People Act 1918 gave the universal franchise to men, and knocked away the last barriers of wealth discrimination for the vote. But for women, only those over 30 were enfranchised, and the judiciary remained as conservative as ever. In ''Roberts v Hopwood'' (1925) a metropolitan borough council had decided to pay its workers a minimum of £4 a week, whether they were men or women and regardless of the job they did. The House of Lords approved the district auditor's surcharge for being overly gratuitous, given the fall in the cost of living. Lord Atkinson said "the council would, in my view, fail in their duty if ... () allowed themselves to be guided in preference by some eccentric principles of socialistic philanthropy, or by a feminist ambition to secure the equality of the sexes in the matter of wages in the world of labour."〔''Roberts v Hopwood'' () AC 578, 594〕 Though Lord Buckmaster said "Had they stated that they determined as a borough council to pay the same wage for the same work without regard to the sex or condition of the person who performed it, I should have found it difficult to say that that was not a proper exercise of their discretion."〔''Roberts v Hopwood'' () AC 578 (HL), at 590〕 After a decade, the Representation of the People Act 1928 finally gave women the vote on an equal footing. Attitudes to racial prejudice in the law were set to change markedly with the proverbial "winds of change" sweeping through the Empire after World War II. As Britain's colonies won independence, many immigrated to the motherland, and for the first time communities of all colours were seen in London and the industrial cities of the North. The Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976 were passed by Harold Wilson's Labour government. In 1972, Britain became a member of the European Community, which became the European Union in 1992 with the agreement of the Maastricht Treaty. The Conservative government opted out of the Social Chapter of the treaty, which included provisions on which anti-discrimination law would be based. Although they passed the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it was not until Tony Blair's "New Labour" government won the 1997 election that the UK opted into the social provisions of EU law. In 2000, the EU overhauled and introduced new Directives explicitly protecting people with a particular sexuality, religion, belief and age, as well as updating the protection against disability, race and gender discrimination. The law is therefore quite new and is still in a state of flux. Between the EU passing directives and the UK government implementing them, it is apparent that the government has often failed to offer the required minimum level of protection. More changes are likely soon to iron out the anomalies. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Kingdom employment equality law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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