Inquiry into the Enforcement of the Equality Act 2010
Legislation on workers' rights can be complex and difficult to understand, leading to challenges in enforcing individual rights through employment tribunals and courts.
For these reasons the Women and Equalities Commons Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the enforcement of the Equality Act 2010. Previous recommendations made by the Committee include:
- extending time limits to bring cases about pregnancy & maternity and sexual harassment;
- having adequate financial penalties;
- increasing the use by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) of its enforcement powers;
- more action by regulators to tackle discrimination.
The Committee is inviting views on a range of matters, which include:
- How easy it is for people to understand and enforce their rights;
- How well enforcement action works to achieve widescale change;
- How effective and accessible tribunals and other legal means of redress under the Equality Act are, and what changes would improve those processes; and
- Whether there are other models of enforcement, in the UK or other countries, that could be a more effective means of achieving widespread compliance with the Equality Act 2010, either overall or in specific sectors.
Written submissions are invited by Friday 5 October 2018 using the written submission form.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Maria Miller MP, said:
“We want to look at whether the Equality Act creates an unfair burden on individual people to enforce their right not to be discriminated against. How easy is it for people to understand and enforce their rights? How effective is enforcement action? Are tribunals accessible and remedies for findings of discrimination effective? Is the EHRC able to do its job properly? Those are just some of the questions we are seeking to answer.
I would encourage people to submit evidence to our inquiry if they are able to provide more information on those points.”
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