Protected characteristics meaning

In this issue: Horizon scanning Directors Status and worker categories Cross-border, international and jurisdictional issues Recruitment Protected characteristics Prohibited Conduct (discrimination etc) Diversity and gender pay gap Maternity, parents and carers Financial services and banking: employment issues Data protection and employee information Bribery, modern slavery, tax evasion and fraud Employment Tribunals Scotland Ireland LexTalk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Horizon scanning BTC launches call for evidence on Employment Rights Bill The Business and Trade Committee (BTC) has opened its first request for evidence for a new inquiry into the Employment Rights Bill (ERB). The inquiry will collect written and oral submissions to steer the Bill’s subsequent passage through Parliament and to gauge whether it is set to meet its stated aims. Written evidence should be submitted by Friday...

In this issue: Employment Rights Act 2025 Benefits Protected characteristics Confidentiality, duties and restrictions: enforcement Europe-EU New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Employment resources on Lexis+® LexTalk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Employment Rights Act 2025 Welsh Government consults on establishment of a Social Care Negotiating Body The Welsh Government has opened a consultation on creating a Social Care Negotiating Body (SCNB) using powers in the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025). The SCNB would be responsible for setting Fair Pay Agreements for Wales’s social care workforce. Feedback is invited on the organisation’s design, role and anticipated effects. Responses will inform the government’s understanding of sector perspectives on the SCNB, including the bargaining approach, who and what it should cover, dispute resolution, roll-out, as well as compliance and enforcement. The consultation closes on 28 April 2026. The exercise does not invite comments on the specifics...

In this edition: Employment contract Pay Protected characteristics Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Prohibited conduct protection at work Equality of terms (equal pay) Employment Appeal Tribunal Governance and regulatory Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract UKSC upholds claimants’ appeal and restores injunction in Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ case In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, Tesco moved to end employees’ contracts to remove their ‘retained pay’—a contractual financial entitlement accepted as permanent—and to offer re-engagement on new terms excluding that pay. Working with the union, USDAW, several employees obtained a High Court injunction restraining Tesco from dismissing them in order to take away the retained pay entitlement. The Court of Appeal, however, allowed Tesco’s appeal against that order. The Supreme Court has since backed the claimants’ appeal and...

Practice Note This Practice Note explores what amounts to a protected disclosure for the whistleblowing protections in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), into which the relevant provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA 1998) have been incorporated. It addresses the general features of disclosures, when they qualify as qualifying disclosures, the need for a whistleblower to hold a reasonable belief that a relevant category of wrongdoing has occurred, and that the disclosure serves the public interest, where appropriate and necessary. It further considers when qualifying disclosures obtain protection and identifies the prescribed persons (people) to whom a disclosure may properly be directed. In addition, the Practice Note summarises the reporting obligations placed on certain prescribed persons to produce an annual written report concerning the workers’ disclosures received by them...

Justification—the ‘justification defence’ This Practice Note explores the concept of justification—often termed the ‘justification defence’—within discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010). It addresses what may amount to a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It assesses proportionality in cases of indirect discrimination (EqA 2010, s 19(2)(d)), including where the objective is to prevent discrimination linked to other protected characteristics. It reviews the notion of a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) and considers issues arising in relation to direct and indirect age discrimination (EqA 2010, s 13(2)) and the Heyday case. In doing so, it evaluates objective justification, defence (no discrimination), the burden of proof, the approach a tribunal should adopt, and circumstances where discrimination rights come into conflict. This Practice Note includes references to case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). For guidance on whether judgments of the Court of Justice are binding on UK courts, see Practice Note: Assimilated law—Assimilated case law. Domestic measures enacted to fulfil UK obligations under...

This Practice Note outlines the available resources concerning safeguards and liabilities arising from acts or failures to act that constitute sexual orientation discrimination, or other forms of prohibited conduct linked to sexual orientation. The detail here is intentionally limited, as the principal aim is to point subscribers towards comprehensive materials contained in additional Practice Notes that explore each element in depth. Consequently, treat this Practice Note as an entry point for research; full coverage is provided only in the places signposted below. Its role is to point you forward, not to replace the comprehensive Practice Notes that address each strand of the topic at length, and the links below are where complete information is intended to be consulted and used. The characteristics protected The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) affords protection against discrimination and other prohibited conduct connected to particular listed characteristics a person may have. Some protections apply solely to one such characteristic. Others operate uniformly across all of them, which together are described as ‘the protected...

1 Policy statement The Company is committed to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). By this we mean: equality: delivering fair treatment and equal opportunity for all employees, workers and job applicants, and eradicating unlawful discrimination; diversity: acknowledging, respecting and valuing the differences in our people’s protected characteristics, backgrounds, skills and experience, and encouraging gender, age and ethnic diversity, alongside diverse physical ability and neurodiversity across our workforce; inclusion: creating a fair, safe workplace for everyone that values difference and enables each person to be themselves, reach their potential and thrive at work. The Company will not unlawfully discriminate against any employee, worker or job applicant on the basis of any protected characteristic recognised by current legislation, namely: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage or civil partnership status; pregnancy and maternity; race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin); religion or belief; sex; or sexual orientation...

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy In line with our [ equality policy ], we are wholly dedicated to ensuring equal opportunity for every employee, worker and applicant, and to removing unlawful and unjust discrimination. We seek to foster a workplace that champions and respects diversity, appointing, recognising and advancing colleagues solely on merit. To evaluate the effectiveness of our [ equality, diversity and inclusion policy ], we track all applications and recruitment activities. The answers you give to the questions below will be used exclusively to review how well our policies and procedures function, and to confirm that we do not, even unintentionally, discriminate against staff or potential staff on the grounds of ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age or religion or belief. Any details you provide will be treated as strictly confidential, and will not be available to those directly engaged in the selection process for the vacancy listed. Your response will be separated from your application as soon as it is received...

1 Policy statement 1.1 The Company is firmly dedicated to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), meaning: Equality: delivering equal opportunity and fairness for all employees, workers and job applicants, and eradicating unlawful discrimination; Diversity: acknowledging, appreciating and valuing differences in our people’s protected characteristics, backgrounds, skills and experience, and encouraging gender, age and ethnic diversity, diverse physical ability and neurodiversity across our workforce; Inclusion: cultivating a fair, safe working culture for everyone, which respects our differences and allows each person to be themselves, realise their potential and flourish at work. 1.2 The Company will not unlawfully discriminate against any employee, worker or job applicant on the grounds of any protected characteristic recognised by current legislation, namely: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage or civil partnership status; pregnancy and maternity; race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin); religion or belief; sex; or sexual orientation...