The Equality Act 2010 replaced and condensed over 100 pieces of anti-discrimination legislation, at its foundation it is unlawful to treat anyone less favourably on the grounds of his or her sexual orientation, disability, religion, sex, belief or age.
As a trainer I should ensure that no student is discriminated against either directly or indirectly by fully understanding this act and how discrimination can arise. The following are protected characteristics and value diversity.
Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation
The equality Act says you’ve been treated less fairly if you are a victim of Direct discrimination, Direct discrimination is when an individual has been treated differently and worse than someone else because of the above characteristics, for example if a hotel turned you away because you are gay this is direct discrimination.
As well as direct discrimination there is indirect discrimination, this is not always as easy to spot.
Indirect discrimination is when there’s a practice, policy or rule which applies to everyone in the same way, but it has a worse effect on some people than others. The Equality Act says it puts you at a particular disadvantage. For example a health club only accepts customers who are on the electoral register. This applies to all customers in the same way. But Gypsies and Travellers are less likely to be on the electoral register and therefore they’ll find it more difficult to join and this could be indirect discrimination.
A workplace which values diversity is one in which all individuals in the workplace are treated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. An initial step in achieving this goal is to establish a work environment where there is zero tolerance for any kind of harassment or discrimination and ongoing training is provided to