Editors Blog

Equality Act | HR will reject positive action in recruitment

Employers' bodies have welcomed the Equality Act, passed by parliament last week, for simplifying the UK's over-complex law in this area, while acknowledging that the legislation will create work for employers, and particularly HR professionals. One of the more problematic...

Posted by Noel O'Reilly on April 12, 2010 10:30 AM

Religious discrimination | Vegans win Equality Bill protection

The government's attempts to outlaw religious discrimination in the workplace turned into farce last week when a draft code of practice was published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.The code aims to help employers interpret the Equality Bill, but...

Posted by Noel O'Reilly on March 11, 2010 5:21 PM

EHRC plans on gender reporting will have little effect

The proposals on gender pay reporting by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) received a decidedly mixed welcome from some HR directors and employers' groups. The commission's promise of two-year immunity from investigation for those firms that go public with...

Posted by Mike Berry on January 22, 2010 12:00 PM

'Nameless CV' proposal comes back to haunt HR

Just as you thought you'd heard the last of the 'nameless CV' proposal, it is rearing its ugly head again. Angry HR professionals opposing the idea wrote to us back in May slamming the proposal for job applications to be...

Posted by Dawn Spalding on July 6, 2009 2:01 PM

Support for scrapping the retirement age grows

The Government Equalities Office has launched a consultation on banning age discrimination in accessing goods and services.The measures are included in the Equality Bill and cover how the legislation will enable things that are beneficial to continue such as age-based...

Posted by Mike Berry on June 30, 2009 2:48 PM

Carers and the Equality Bill

At an event last night held by membership forum Employers for Carers to help celebrate the launch of Carers Week. Nearly one in seven UK workers are carers (according to the 2001 census), with official estimates that claim as many as one in three people will fulfill a carer's role at some point in their lives.

Posted by Guy Logan on June 10, 2009 1:00 PM

Anonymous CVs won't put an end to job discrimination

What should we make of the proposed amendment to the Equality Bill which would allow candidates to omit their name when submitting job applications?Lib Dem equalities spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone said the move would prevent 'subliminal' discrimination by employers, meaning applicants...

Posted by Mike Berry on May 18, 2009 8:21 AM

Equality Bill won't eradicate all age discrimination

Equality minister Harriet Harman teamed up with Dame Joan Bakewell yesterday at an Age Concern event to mark the second reading of the Equality Bill in Parliament.One of the measures in the Bill is to outlaw age discrimination, indeed Harriet...

Posted by Mike Berry on May 12, 2009 2:27 PM

Equality Bill fails to scrap retirement age rules

Age campaigners - and Personnel Today - are disappointed that the Equality Bill didn't include any measures to committing to scrapping the default retirement age before the current review date of 2011. EFA chief Catharine Pusey said: "Today, with people...

Posted by Mike Berry on April 28, 2009 4:58 PM

Lightweights at the BCC Conference

At the BCC Business Convention in Birmingham this week. The train up on Sunday was delayed while a kidnap victim was freed from a car filled with gas canisters. West Midlands police and the regional army bomb disposal performed admirably to rescue him and end the threat. Many big names at the conference, from all parties and a real potential for a fistfight, but in the end nothing explosive.

Posted by Guy Logan on April 27, 2009 10:00 PM

Positive action could lead to claims of discrimination

The one provision of the Equality Bill  which I find troubling is the idea that employers will be able to recruit people from an under-represented group when there are candidates of equal merit. One problem with this is that in the real...

Posted by Noel O'Reilly on April 27, 2009 2:20 PM

Would equal pay audits work?

Posted by Louisa Peacock on March 18, 2009 8:06 AM

Gordon Brown fightback | It's not all about work

The Jackie Wilson song '(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher' has been covered by the likes of Dolly Parton and was used in blockbuster movie Ghostbusters 2 when the Statue of Liberty started walking. Now, it will be known as the song which...

Posted by Louisa Peacock on September 23, 2008 4:38 PM

Equality | Some light bedtime reading...

The government has published its response to the consultation it held before drafting the Equality Bill. The document can be downloaded here. Be warned - it's a weighty piece of work (more than 200 pages long) but the executive summary...

Posted by Mike Berry on July 23, 2008 8:23 AM

Equality | Women, Wimbledon and the Workplace

In the wake of the Single Equality Bill and the completion of another Wimbledon tournament, much of the talk around the water-cooler has involved talk of pay gaps.

Posted by Guy Logan on July 8, 2008 9:45 AM

Diversity | Cash not solution to boosting diversity

The fallout from last month's unveiling of the Equality Bill continues apace. The suggestion that employers should, in effect, be paid to hire more women and black and minority ethnic (BME) workers will undoubtedly provoke controversy. As this is a...

Posted by Mike Berry on July 7, 2008 8:15 AM

Discrimination | HR bears the brunt

Are HR professionals the last group of workers it is safe to discriminate against? Amid all the furore over the political-correctness-gone-madness of the Equality Bill last week, one comment stood out like a sore thumb for me. Asked about the thorny issue...

Posted by Greg Pitcher on July 2, 2008 8:00 AM

Equality Bill | Measures could open a can of worms

HR legal eagles will need to swap their summer read for some serious Equality Bill swotting, following the raft of controversial new measures announced last week. The purpose of the Bill is to 'strengthen protection, advance equality and de-clutter the...

Posted by Dawn Spalding on June 30, 2008 10:13 AM

Equality | not so clever, Trevor

Publicity: it's a funny old game. The Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror, the London Paper and Channel Four News all failed to credit Personnel Today with a story we wrote this week - while Equalities and Human Rights Commission chairman Trevor Phillips...

Posted by Greg Pitcher on May 23, 2008 12:29 PM

Gender pay gap | Only a radical approach will solve the "motherhood penalty"

Women in their 30s are hit hardest by the gender pay gap. The difference between men's and women's full-time earnings, according to a TUC report, rises from 3% when they are in their 20s to 11% in their 30s. Women's...

Posted by Rob Moss on March 17, 2008 8:58 AM