Gendered Duties

Launching a consultation on the new gender equality duty, the Equal Opportunities Commission has said it wants public sector bodies to respond so that it can help them meet their obligations under the law.

The new duty, which comes into force in April 2007, requires public bodies to eliminate sex discrimination and promote equality in their services, policies, and employment and recruitment practices. Service providers and public sector employers will have to design jobs and services with the different needs of women and men in mind. 

Specifically, the EOC is asking equality practitioners to give their opinions on the code of practice contained in the duty, which will explain how to implement it and integrate it into day-to-day operations.

The consultation closes on 15 May. For more details, go to: www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=18270

Direct Services

Although the European Parliament recently approved the Services Directive, which aims to open up the services sector to cross-border competition, it also agreed to remove the “country of origin” principle.

This said that a company offering its services in another country would operate according to the rules of the country in which it was based. This would have meant that a company based in the UK could offer its services in France, but still rely on UK rules. 
Thanks to the amendment agreed by the Parliament, which has been welcomed by the TUC, service providers will be governed by the regulations of the country in which the service is being provided. 

Trade unions and other critics feared that the directive would allow firms to relocate to countries with the lowest wages and the weakest consumer, environmental protection, employment and health and safety rules. 

The directive could become law this year, but it will be a year or two after that before it is transposed in the national laws of member states.

Equality Acts

The Equality Act, which has just received royal assent, will introduce a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).

It will bring together the work of the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission from October 2007; and that of the Commission for Racial Equality from 2009. 


The Government says the CEHR will be required to produce a regular “equality health check” for Britain; and will work with individuals, communities, businesses and public services to find more effective ways of giving everyone in society the chance to achieve their full potential.

Women and Work

Wide-ranging action to tackle job segregation has been proposed in a long-awaited report from the Government’s Women and Work Commission.

The report, Shaping a Fairer Future, sets out 40 practical recommendations to tackle job segregation and the pay gap, which still exists despite 30 years of equal pay legislation.
Proposals include a national World of Work programme to improve vocational training, provide work taster days for primary school pupils and use work experience to encourage girls to think about non-traditional jobs as well as promote apprenticeships for women, especially in sectors with skill shortages.

The report says that increasing women's employment and ending gender segregation would benefit the economy by as much as £23 billion – about two per cent of GDP.

The Commissioners are calling on the Government to:

  • fund a £20 million package to enable women to change direction and raise skill levels
  • introduce an initiative to promote quality part time work 
  • promote a localised approach to matching jobs and skills using community centres, schools and children's centres to recruit local women, to be piloted in five areas across the country
  • provide support for the development and training of equality reps.

The Women and Work Commission was set up by the Prime Minister in 2004, charged with carrying out an independent review of the gender pay gap and other issues affecting women's employment.

For a copy of the report, go to: www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/ women_work_commission/shaping_fairer_future.pdf

Discretionary Time

A discrimination complaint can still be heard more than four months after the grievance relating to it was submitted, according to the employment appeal tribunal in Bupa Care Homes (BNH) Ltd -v- Cann and Spillett -v- Tesco Stores Ltd.

Under the mandatory grievance procedures, employees have to lodge a written grievance with their employer before going to an employment tribunal. However, the claim is barred if the employee delays doing this until a month after the end of the time limit – three months under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). 


The employment appeal tribunal said that the original time limit referred to the period within which the tribunal could consider a complaint under the DDA, including exercising its “just and equitable” discretion. So, even though the grievance was submitted out of time, the tribunal could exercise its discretion to allow the complaint to proceed.

Age Regulations

Regulations to outlaw age discrimination at work have been published by the DTI. 

The regulations will:

  • ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training
  • ban unjustified retirement ages of below 65
  • remove the current age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights.


A copy of the final regulations will soon be available on the Stationary Office website.

Contract Apprenticeships

An apprentice who was dismissed without notice, following a transfer of his employer’s business, was working under a contract of apprenticeship, not a contract of employment, according to the Court of Appeal in Flett -v- Matheson.


The Court said that the Modern Apprenticeship could constitute a common law contract of apprenticeship. The fact that the claimant worked under an Individual Learning Plan did not make any difference.

Age Multiplier

After considering what amendments would be needed to the rules on statutory redundancy payments to outlaw age discrimination, the Government has decided to keep the current three age bands.

In a written statement to Parliament, it said that this was a sensible approach because “a system using a single multiplier would leave a significant group of older workers substantially worse off than at present.”

It has, however, decided to remove the lower and upper age limits in the redundancy scheme (at ages 18 and 65).

Unfair Treatment

A dismissal is likely to be unfair if the employer did not dismiss other employees who had done something similar.

In Enterprise Liverpool plc -v- Bauress, the employment appeal tribunal has said that employers can react differently if there are differences in the behaviour of the employees.

In this case, an employee with 30 years’ service who admitted his guilt was given a final written warning. Two new employees who lied about what they had done were dismissed.

The EAT said that it was within the band of reasonable responses for the employer to react differently, given the different circumstances in the two situations.

Commercial Claims

Under the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, self-employed agents who sell goods on behalf of someone else have a statutory right to compensation.

Up until recently, the courts have, however, taken the view that the agent should only be awarded compensation of up to two years’ earnings if the agency is terminated. 
The Court of Appeal has now overturned this approach in Lonsdale -v- Howard and Hallam Ltd, saying that the measure of damages should be the loss of the agency business.

Serco -v- Lawson; Botham -v- Ministry of Defence; Croft & ors -v- Veta Ltd & ors