Sex discrimination

Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Following the case of the Equal Opportunities Commission v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Advisory bulletin 525), regulations were issued to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to comply with the Equal Treatment Amendment Directive.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations 2008 came into force on 6 April 2008 and made the following changes:

• Regulation 2 amends s.3A of the Sex Discrimination Act, which defines discrimination on grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave, by eliminating the requirement for a comparator who is not pregnant or not on maternity leave respectively.
• Regulation 3 broadens the definition of sexual harassment in s.4A(1)(a) of the Act from “on the ground of her sex, he engages in unwanted conduct that..” to “he engages in unwanted conduct that is related to her sex or that of another person and…” so that claims can be made, for example by persons who have not been the subject of the behaviour themselves but who are nevertheless affected by the intimidating environment.
• Where an employer knows that a woman is being harassed by a third party in the course of her employment and the harassment has occurred on at least 2 other occasions, regulation 4 makes it unlawful for the employer to fail to take reasonably practicable steps to protect her.
• Regulation 5 effectively extends the rights that a woman has during ordinary maternity leave to additional maternity leave. It also allows a woman on maternity leave to claim sex discrimination for non-payment of a discretionary bonus which relates to the two week compulsory maternity leave period. This regulation applies to women whose expected week of childbirth falls on or after 5 October 2008.

The protections in the Sex Discrimination Act form part of the Equality Act 2010 which will replace the Sex Discrimination Act and associated legislation. Most of the Equality Act will come into force on 1 October 2010.

Useful links

EOC (now Equality and Human Rights Commission): Code of Practice on Sex Discrimination