Chapter 4 Key facts checklists

Chapter 4 Key facts checklists

Discrimination: the protected characteristics
  • The Equality Act 2010 replaced the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and the Equal Pay Act 1970.
  • The Equality Act 2010 also replaced Regulations concerned with stopping discrimination on the grounds of age, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
  • The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination in relation to nine protected characteristics.
  • The Act also protects people from discrimination by association with someone who has one of the protected characteristics (eg where the claimant is a worker who cares for a disabled child) and from discrimination by perception (eg discrimination because of sexual orientation includes discrimination against those one perceives to be gay even if they are not).
  • The Act tries to reconcile the potential conflict between protecting religious beliefs and protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from discrimination.
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