Equality Act 2004
Allows for positive action to be taken in the workforce in order to promote greater equality on all nine grounds as outlined in the act including sexual orientation. It also closes a loophole in regards to harassment whereby a person does not have to have the characteristics imputed about them in a situation of harassment. For example if a person is subject to homophobic jokes but that person is not gay or lesbian they may take legal action to redress the harassment. Another new provision covers people who suffer from discrimination by association. Such persons can make a case even if they do not fall into one of the nine specific groups which are covered under the legislation. For example someone who defends a co-work who is gay from harassment could in turn suffer from harassment, that person can take a case to the Equality Tribunal. Another development deals with indirect discrimination where a particular measure, while appearing neutral on the face of it, has a disproportionate impact on a particular group or individual in the workplace. Companies are required to monitor the impact of their policies on their employers and adjust their policies to cater for different needs of their employees.
Read more about this topic: List Of Laws And Reports On LGBT Rights In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words equality and/or act:
“It is the nature of our desires to be boundless, and many live only to gratify them. But for this purpose the first object is, not so much to establish an equality of fortune, as to prevent those who are of a good disposition from desiring more than their own, and those who are of a bad one from being able to acquire it; and this may be done if they are kept in an inferior station, and not exposed to injustice.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is still theoretically possible; and as the test of belief is willingness to act, one may say that faith is the readiness to act in a cause the prosperous issue of which is not certified to us in advance.”
—William James (1842–1910)