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View from the Chair, Changes to Equality Law - May 2009

05/05/2009

Equality law has been a feature of legislation in Northern Ireland for almost four decades now, and it has always been a dynamic environment . Though the foundations were laid in the 1970s they have been added to continuously, with many new dimensions such as laws on age and sexual orientation and disability being enacted in this decade.

Last week Harriet Harman, the Minister for Equality and Women, published an Equality Bill which would introduce some entirely new dimensions to equality law and make further important additions to existing legislation. It is planned to be in effect by autumn 2010, but will apply only in England Wales and Scotland, as equality law for Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved administration here.

The rationale of having areas of law devolved is that Northern Ireland doesn’t have to mirror exactly laws enacted for Great Britain. Law can be tailored to suit the particular context of Northern Ireland - and equality is one such devolved area of law. As a result, for many years Northern Ireland had more extensive equality law in some respects than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. This was true for example in Fair Employment legislation, and in the equality duties on public authorities under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

If these new proposals are enacted, however, there will be a sharp difference between the two jurisdictions, which could result in Northern Ireland equality law lagging behind the rest of the U K. This will impose a particular disadvantage, not just for equality practitioners, but for employers and service providers, both private and public, who trade and operate in both jurisdictions, and for employees and people accessing services here.

While the proposal to have a single Equality Bill for Northern Ireland has been extensively debated for many years, the Commission has recently written to Ministers putting forward proposals for specific changes in a number of individual measures where we believe such change to be urgently needed. Among the proposed changes are a number that will have relevance for business,. including the extension of age discrimination to the provision of goods facilities and services and the extension of the Fair Employment Monitoring provisions to the categories of nationality or ethnic origin

The Commission has a duty to keep equality legislation under review and in doing this we are anxious to ensure that it meets the particular needs of people in Northern Ireland, is consistent and that it takes account of current realities. We will be engaging with all interested parties, including employers, business organisations and others within the business community.