Changes to National Minimum Wage

The Government has published regulations to increase the National Minimum Wage for all age groups from today (1 October 2010).

The new rates will be as follows:

• Workers aged 21 and over - £5.93 per hour
• Workers between 18 and 20 - £4.92 per hour
• Young workers (over the compulsory school age but under 18) - £3.64 per hour

There is also a new minimum wage of £2.50 per hour for apprentices who are under the age of 19 or who are older than 19 but in the first year of their apprenticeship.

Employers should note that from 1 October 2010 the standard Adult rate of £5.93 per hour will apply to workers aged 21 and over rather than 22 and over as in previous years.

Equality Act 2010

The long awaited Equality Act 2010 comes into force today drawing together all the discrimination legislation which has been introduced on a piecemeal basis since the 1970’s. Its overall aim is to simplify, replace and harmonise the existing legislation.

Obligations on employers remain much the same however we advise that you review the updated law to ensure that you understand those changes which have taken effect.

Those groups already protected under anti-discrimination legislation remain protections however they are now to be known as ‘Protected Characteristics’ (“PC”). The PC’s are: Age; Disability; Gender Reassignment; Marriage and Civil Partnership; Pregnancy and Maternity; Race; Religion or Belief; Sex; Sexual Orientation.

Occupational requirements are a potential defence for arguing that a particular PC is essential to a job role.

Additionally there are some changes to definitions which should be noted. These include:

Disability
As per the previous law a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial, long term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities. There is however no longer a definition for ‘normal day to day activities.’

Gender Reassignment
Transsexuals are protected under the Act with a transsexual being defined as a person who proposes to, begins or has completed a process to change their gender. Unlike the previous laws there is no longer a requirement to be under medical supervision in order to gain protection.

Race
The definition of race has effectively been extended by now making it non-exhaustive. It therefore now includes ethnic or national original, colour and nationality”.

There are also some changes to some of the types of discrimination in the Act. The main types of discrimination are:

• Direct Discrimination.
• Associative Discrimination
• Perceived discrimination
• Indirect discrimination
• Harassment
• Victimisation

The laws will apply the European definition of indirect discrimination to all protected characteristics. It will extend protection from indirect discrimination to disability and introduce a new concept of ‘discrimination arising from disability’, to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment. Whilst, the new Act is not quite a blanket ban on pre employment health enquiries, they will make it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health.

Disability arising from discrimination is a new form of discrimination contained in the Act. It covers conduct which arises not because of an employee’s disability itself, but because of something arising as a consequence of that disability.

Secrecy clauses (which requires an employee to keep their pay details secret and bans them from discussing it with other employees) will be unenforceable against employees involved in a “relevant pay disclosure”.

You can require your employees to keep their pay confidential from others outside the workplace, for example a competitor organisation.

Louise Haward, Employment Solicitor at Smith Partnership recommends that employers should review policies and procedures, particularly with regards to equal opportunities and recruitment to decide whether they should be updated in light of these changes. All relevant staff should also be briefed about the changes and implications on the way employees and potential employees are dealt with.