Harriet Harman would bring back dual discrimination

Harriet Harman has said that the Labour Party would implement the dual discrimination Regulations in the Equality Act if returned to government. She said that reintroducing the provisions, which were dropped by the coalition Government when the Equality Act came into force, would help address both age and sex discrimination that is facing older women. Are you familiar with the concept of dual discrimination?

Section14 of the Equality Act 2010 permits discrimination claims based on a combination of two protected characteristics, such as gender and age. Currently, if an older female television presenter, for example, believes she is getting less work because she is an older woman, she may struggle to win a gender discrimination claim because her employer could point to a plethora of female TV presenters. She may also struggle to win an age discrimination claim as her employer could point to plenty of older TV presenters. Section 14 would make it easier for her to establish less favourable treatment by comparing herself to older male TV. 

In its report Age immaterial: Women over 50 in the workplace, the TUC found that the gender pay gap for full-time women over 50 is twice the gap experienced by younger women. Almost half of women over 50 work part time and more than half of these part-time workers earn less than £10,000 a year. 

The TUC is calling for a ’radical rethink of workplace culture’ regarding how older women are treated at work. 

To read more information about Harriet Harmen’s intention to implement dual discrimination regulations, click here

To read the TUC article ‘Age Immaterial; Women over 50 in the workplace, click here