The government has launched a taskforce to tackle the shortage of black and ethnic minority women councillors. The number of black and minority ethnic women councillors has marginally increased from 0.6% in 1997 to 0.9% in 2006. This equates to about  More...
19 May 2008 07:43

A major shake-up of discrimination laws is expected to be announced in Gordon Brown's draft Queen's Speech today. Brown will outline the long-awaited Single Equality Bill, on a list of measures to be introduced during the 2008/9 Parliamentary sess  More...
14 May 2008 09:10

Three employees who subjected a Muslim workmate to a 10-month campaign of racial harassment were each jailed for three years yesterday. Phillip Skett, Sean Melaney and Lee McDermott, who worked at a Walsall roadworks depot, tried to force-feed  More...
18 April 2008 17:11

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has finally published its single equality scheme  – three months late. All public authorities have a duty to produce an overarching equality scheme, setting out their position for staff on rac  More...
02 April 2008 09:59

A charity that campaigns to provide a "secure base for Britain's minority ethnic communities" has called for effective leadership to promote diversity, after a poll revealed that almost nine in 10 recent graduates have experienced some kind of discrimin  More...
01 April 2008 09:04

HR news and analysis including: Newcastle College buys a major part of Carter & Carter from administrators the European Council reviews UK information and consultation regulations and following Harriet Harman's refusal to rule out positive   More...
28 March 2008 14:19

After six months in the shadows, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is preparing a YouTube awareness campaign.  More...
28 March 2008 12:17

The government has refused to rule out a change in the law to allow employers to discriminate in favour of black or female job applicants. Reports suggest that equalities minister Harriet Harman was preparing to announce moves to bring US-style posi  More...
20 March 2008 10:29

Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 , which currently sets out the law on prevention of illegal migrant working in the UK, will be repealed and replaced on 29 February 2008 by Sections 15 to 25 of the Immigration, Asylum and N  More...
25 February 2008 17:13

A new service has been launched to help local authorities boost their levels of diversity awareness. The government's Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) is to provide peer reviews to help councils meet level three of the Equality Standard  More...
14 February 2008 10:10

Employers will need to tighten up discrimination and flexible working policies following a landmark disability decision, which is almost certain to give rise to new rights for millions of workers, legal experts have warned. An advocate-general at the  More...
04 February 2008 08:01

A British Airways (BA) check-in clerk who claimed she was religiously discriminated against for wearing a crucifix on a necklace has lost her case. Nadia Eweida was suspended in September 2006, after she refused to conceal a small crucifix at her   More...
09 January 2008 10:32

The recent furore over the decision of the Oxford Union to invite the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, and holocaust denier, David Irvine, to address a debate has thrust freedom of speech to the forefront of the news. But does this concept exist i  More...
07 January 2008 08:00

Businesses should not shy away from celebrating Christmas for fear of it being a Christian festival, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has warned. Chief executive Trevor Phillips has joined high-profile faith leaders from the Hindu, Sikh   More...
21 December 2007 11:44

Talk about a load of hot air. Last week's advice in your legal dilemma on celebrating Christmas was a real classic of a non-answer from a lawyer ( Personnel Today, 27 November ). The question was about offending Muslims by celebrating Christ  More...
03 December 2007 15:15

We're trying to organise our Christmas party and it's proving to be a nightmare. I have a number of Muslim employees in my workforce who are concerned that the normal format revolves around alcohol. I'm worried that if I don't change it, we could face r  More...
26 November 2007 08:00

Religion and sexual orientation discrimination McClintock v Department for Constitutional Affairs FACTS Mr McClintock served as a Justice of the Peace and was a member of the Family Panel. As part of his duties, he had to decide whether child  More...
20 November 2007 08:42

A British Airways check-in clerk who was suspended for refusing to conceal a small crucifix on a necklace at her post at Heathrow Airport has accused her employers of having a "culture of hostility" to Christianity at an employment tribunal. When Nad  More...
15 November 2007 12:20

A Muslim woman is suing the owner of a London hair salon for religious discrimination after she was refused a job for wearing a headscarf. Bushra Noah was rejected for the post at the Wedge salon in King's Cross, North London, after own  More...
09 November 2007 12:23

Few would deny that, despite major reforms, more needs to be done to help tackle workplace discrimination. Trevor Phillips , in his first major speech as chair of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has called for the government   More...
05 November 2007 08:00