Equality Act 2010 comes into force today

The majority of the Equality Act 2010's provisions come into force today, 1 October 2010. The provisions coming into force include:

• The basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions, premises, work, education, associations and transport.


• The new concept of "discrimination arising from disability", to restore the protection from "disability-related discrimination" lost as a result of the House of Lords' decision in London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm.


• Preventing employers from asking pre-employment health questions, except in specified circumstances (s60).


• Making pay secrecy clauses unenforceable (s77).


• New powers for employment tribunals to make recommendations in relation to the workforce as a whole (s124).


• The general provisions allowing voluntary positive action (s158).

There are still a number of provisions that have not yet come into effect and which the government is currently "considering how to implement", perhaps the most notable of which are:

• Provisions relating to combined discrimination (s14); and
• Provisions relating to positive action in recruitment and promotion (s159).

If you haven't already reviewed your equal opportunities policy documentation - and ensured any standard compromise agreement refers to the new legislation - there's no time like the present!