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Government makes Equality Act commencement order on positive action
The coalition Government has made an order under the Equality Act 2010 that implements the provisions on positive action on 6 April 2011.

Equality Act 2010: statutory codes of practice to come into force
The Equality Act 2010 statutory codes of practice produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission are expected to come into force at the end of February 2011.

Equality Act 2010: guidance on the public sector duty and positive action
The Government Equalities Office has published draft Regulations on the public sector equality duty and guidance on the positive action provisions, which are expected to be introduced via the Equality Act 2010 on 6 April 2011. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance on the public sector equality duty.

Government confirms abolition of default retirement age
The coalition Government has confirmed that it will proceed with its proposals to abolish the default retirement age of 65 and the associated statutory retirement procedure.

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Case law

Racial harassment: Employer not liable for third-party racial harassment
In Edwards Conteh v Parking Partners Ltd EAT/0288/10, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the employment tribunal was correct to reject a claim of race discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976 against an employer that failed to take action to prevent third-party harassment.

Age discrimination: Job specification enough to shift burden of proof
In Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v Beck EAT/0141/10, the EAT held that the use of the word "younger" in the person specification for the job vacancy that had been created after the claimant had been dismissed was sufficient to raise the suspicion of age discrimination and shift the burden of proof to the employer.

Sex discrimination: EAT considers weekend working requirement
In Shackletons Garden Centre Ltd v Lowe EAT/0161/10, the EAT held that an employment tribunal was not entitled to find, on the evidence, that an employer indirectly discriminated against a woman who was required to do weekend working when she returned from maternity leave.

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Good practice

Religion and belief good practice guide
The good practice guide provides practical guidance on how to handle matters relating to an employee's religion or belief and sets out the benefits of supporting employees in relation to their religious beliefs.

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Employment tribunal decisions

XpertHR provides summaries of recent employment tribunal rulings involving, among other things, age discrimination and racial harassment.

› Former BBC presenter suffered age discrimination

› £52,000 award after employer ignored racial harassment complaints

› Harassment against gay man during charity fancy-dress day

› Female bar worker described as not being "eye candy"

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Editor's message

POSITIVE ACTION
The Conservative Party was opposed to the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010 when it was in opposition, so the coalition Government's announcement that it would implement s.159 of the Equality Act 2010 was greeted with surprise.

Section 159 deals with positive action in recruitment and promotion. It provides that, in defined circumstances, an employer may appoint a person (A) with a protected characteristic in preference to another person (B) who does not have the protected characteristic, provided that A is as qualified for the post as B.

In relation to the vexed question of whether or not one person is as qualified as another, the Equality Act 2010 explanatory notes state that this is not a matter only of academic qualification, but rather a judgment based on the criteria the employer uses to establish who is best for the job.

Employers are not required to take positive action and any action that is taken must be a proportionate way of addressing disadvantage or under-representation. Section 159 will come into force on 6 April 2011.

Jeya Thiruchelvam
Equal opportunities editor,
XpertHR


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