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McDonald’s signs legal agreement to protect staff from sexual harassment
Earlier this month, we signed a legal agreement with McDonald’s Restaurants Limited in response to concerns about the handling of sexual harassment complaints made by staff in its UK restaurants.
Under the agreement, McDonald’s Restaurants Limited has committed to key actions to protect staff from sexual harassment, including: - communicating a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment
- enhancing policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment and improve responses to complaints
- introducing specific training and materials to help managers identify areas of risk within their restaurants and take steps to prevent sexual harassment
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are legally responsible if an employee is sexually harassed at work by another employee, and the employer has not taken all steps they could to prevent it from happening.
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Labour Party action plan monitoring
concludes
In October 2020, following a thorough investigation of the UK Labour Party that found unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination, we made detailed recommendations to ensure that the Party adheres to equality law.
We have reviewed progress with the agreed action plan since then and on 31 January 2023, we concluded our monitoring as we were satisfied that the Party had implemented the necessary actions to improve its complaints, recruitment, training and other procedures to the legal standards required. This will help to protect current and future Labour Party members from discrimination and harassment.
No organisation is above the law. Every employer and every public body must take active steps to address racism and all other forms of illegal discrimination. We are pleased that our investigation and action plan has had the desired impact in this case. |
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New report finds system for challenging social care decisions is failing those who need it in
England and Wales
We have published the findings from our inquiry into the experiences of social care users and carers who have challenged decisions made by local authorities.
Launched in July 2021, our inquiry explored the experiences of social care users and carers who have challenged decisions made by local authorities. We examined the procedures in place among local authorities across England and Wales and gathered insight from social care professionals.
In our new report, we make recommendations for local authorities in England and Wales, the UK and Welsh governments and a number of other bodies with a role in the care system.
Our recommendations include that:
the Welsh Government work with local authorities and others to improve the collection and analysis of equality data from social care users, including those who challenge decisions. This data should be used to identify and address poor outcomes where they are experienced by people who share particular protected characteristics.
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New report on the state of economic, social
and cultural rights in Britain
We published our latest report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) this month. Economic, social and cultural rights affect how people live their lives every day. They establish the freedoms and entitlements around our most basic needs – such as our homes, our families or our beliefs.
We call on the UK and Welsh Governments to make sure these rights are protected in the face of significant societal challenges and new trends - including poverty, pressures on social care and the effects that digital exclusion and online safety have on access to cultural life. The rising cost of living, particularly for essentials such as energy and food, continues to exacerbate inequalities already worsened by the pandemic.
Our report reflects these challenges, highlights the implications that a rising cost of living has on poverty rates and makes a number of recommendations, including that the UK and Welsh governments should: - examine causes of higher poverty among certain groups and develop accountability measures to address these disparities
- address the impact of labour market changes on workers with protected characteristics and to ensure that public investment and procurement benefit everyone
- use the Socio-economic Duty to ensure public bodies in Wales take effective action to address inequalities.
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Further attention on hair discrimination
This month Radio 1Xtra broadcast their ‘If You Don’t Know’ podcast discussing the recent case of a pupil in the West Midlands being banned from parts of her school because of her hair style. Our Director of Regulation Jackie Killeen was interviewed about the hair discrimination guidance we published in October 2022 and our enforcement powers.
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Recommendations from our 2019 Higher Education Inquiry taken forward by Office for Students
In 2019 we launched our inquiry into racial harassment in publicly funded universities in Britain to examine staff and students’ experiences of racial harassment and the effect they might have on their education, career and wellbeing. We also wanted to look at the extent to which universities have in place available, accessible and effective routes to redress for their staff and students if they experience racial harassment
Following this inquiry we published an report which looked at the racial harassment experienced in universities and called for a review of regulatory frameworks to increase protection from harassment for students.
We welcome the news that this is now being taken forward through the Office for Students new consultation which looks at a new regulatory approach to all forms of harassment and sexual misconduct.
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Successful outcome for claimant who was denied a flexible working request
We recently welcomed the ruling and acknowledgment of the case of Ms Glover who was disadvantaged when her flexible working appeal was refused.
We funded Ms Glover's case which followed a flexible working request she made while on maternity leave. This request was refused by her employer, Lacoste, on the grounds that managerial staff must work full-time and be fully flexible.The Employment Tribunal found that as she was on leave at the time it was refused, she was not “disadvantaged” by the decision. Ms Glover appealed against that decision to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
We hope that this judgment and the new Bill will improve future access to flexible working and help women to enter and stay in work. No one should be disadvantaged because they have asked to work flexibly. Part-time and flexible working are important ways of enabling many people to participate in the labour market, for example those with caring responsibilities, such as Ms Glover.
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Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill - parliamentary briefing
Ahead of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill's second reading in the House of Lords earlier this month, we published a parliamentary briefing on the Bill.
The Bill plans to overhaul a body of UK domestic law known as ‘retained EU law’ (REUL) by giving ministers the power to replace, restate or update these laws, or else to revoke them at the end of 2023.
Our concerns about the Bill fall into five categories: - Uncertainty about the Government’s policy intentions and potential effects on equality and human rights protections
- The lack of parliamentary scrutiny of potential changes
- The limited time available before the proposed ‘sunset’ date of December 2023
- Legal uncertainty resulting from changes in how the courts consider certain case law
- Negative implications for devolution and the Union.
We are calling on the Government to make a public commitment not to weaken existing equality and human rights protections when revoking, replacing, restating or updating REUL.
We are also asking the Government to extend the ‘sunset’ date for these laws beyond December 2023 so that Parliament can have enough time to scrutinise the potential effects of these changes.
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Online Safety Bill – House of Lords Second Reading
In advance of its Second Reading in the House of Lords (1 February), we published our advice on the Online Safety Bill to support Parliament in scrutinising the Bill.
The Online Safety Bill is a much needed piece of legislation, which puts in place a regulatory framework for online search and user-to-user services. It’s primary aims are to tackle the spread of illegal content online, and to ensure children are kept safe. It also creates a range of new criminal offences that address harmful content and behaviours facilitated by online services.
We support these aims. However, the Bill has significant implications for fundamental rights. In particular, we are concerned that the Bill does not sufficiently protect the right to freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
We are also concerned about the impact of some of the provisions on Article 8 of the ECHR, the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.
In our briefing we make several recommendations to improve the Bill to ensure it effectively protects freedom of expression and privacy. We also make recommendations in relation to user empowerment and providing effective appeal and redress mechanisms.
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Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill - parliamentary briefing
Ahead of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill reading in the House of Commons, we published a parliamentary briefing.
The Equality Act 2010 is clear that treating women unfavourably because of their pregnancy or maternity status is unlawful, but discrimination is still occurring and evidence shows that it increased during the coronavirus pandemic.
We welcome the opportunity of the Bill to strengthen protection against pregnancy and maternity discrimination and in particular, support proposals in the Bill to introduce protection from redundancy for pregnant women. We also support the recommendation to extend the current protection for new mothers against unfair redundancy, including people who have taken adoption or shared parental leave. However, we have highlighted our concerns that under the current legislative proposals this protection will only apply when people have taken six weeks of leave.
This briefing further advises on the Bill’s clauses and sets out measures we think necessary to address workplace pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
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Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill - parliamentary briefing
Ahead of the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill’s reading in the House of Commons, we published a parliamentary briefing.
The Equality Act 2010 is clear that sexual harassment is unlawful. But despite existing protections, workplace sexual harassment remains widespread, underreported and poorly enforced. We welcome the opportunity of the Bill to strengthen existing protections against workplace harassment.
In particular, we support proposals in the Bill to introduce a proactive duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. We also welcome the recommendation in the Bill to increase compensation for individual complainants if a tribunal finds that an employer has breached the proposed new duty.
The Bill would also reinstate protections for workers from harassment from third parties. Our 2018 report on ending sexual harassment in the workplace found that third-party harassment is a particular problem for people in customer-facing roles. Reinstating protections will provide employers with the necessary clarity to ensure that their workers are protected against harassment by customers, clients and patients.
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Inquiry into effective Scottish Government decision-making
We recently responded to the Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee’s inquiry into effective Scottish Government decision-making.
Our response highlighted that the Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty are not just legal responsibilities with which the Scottish Government must comply.
Together, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and Fairer Scotland Duty (FSD) offer a comprehensive framework for the Scottish Government to ensure that equality is properly built into its decision-making. Robust compliance with these duties also represents a critical component of good government decision-making.
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Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) reporting obligations
In England, all public bodies should have published their equality information by 30 March 2023. They should have also published equality objectives, which should be specific, measurable and timely. We will monitor compliance with the PSED specific duty requirements.
For further detail on the requirements of the specific duties in England, please refer to our guidance.
Read about the specific duty reporting obligations in Scotland. Read about the specific duty reporting obligations in Wales.
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Deadlines for reporting
gender pay gap data
Gender pay gap calculations are based on employer payroll data from a specific date each year, known as the ‘snapshot date’. Data must be published every year within 12 months of the relevant snapshot date: - For specified public-sector employers, the snapshot date is 31 March each year. The deadline for reporting and publishing your gender pay gap information is 30 March of the following year.
- For private and voluntary sector employers, the snapshot date is 5 April each year. You must publish your gender pay gap information and written statement by 4 April of the following year.
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