Deregulation Bill, House of Lords, Report 03 February 2015, amendments to Clause 2

Clause 2 of the Deregulation Bill would amend section 124 of the Equality Act 2010 to remove the power of employment tribunals to make recommendations to employers and other respondents in cases where there has been a finding of unlawful discrimination, harassment or victimisation but the claimant no longer works for the employer – we refer to these as “wider recommendations”. Its effect would be that, in future, an employment tribunal would only be able to make a recommendation aimed at preventing or reducing the adverse effect of the discrimination on the claimant in the case. This would mean that the potential to reduce discrimination against the employer’s wider workforce would be lost in the majority of cases.

This briefing supports Amendment 3 to Clause 2 of the Deregulation Bill, in the names of Lord Lester, Lord Hunt, Lord Low and Baroness Thornton. This amendment would retain and clarify the power in section 124 of the Equality Act 2010 which enables employment tribunals to make wider recommendations in discrimination cases.

It also offers our analysis of ways in which Clause 2 could be further improved in order to address criticisms which have been expressed by government and business representatives about the way the wider recommendations power has been used to date and its effect on businesses. We hope that Government will consider these improvements should Amendment 3 be accepted.

Read the briefing here (PDF | Word)

Last Updated: 03 Feb 2015