The Equality Bill has finally been published and the following are the key points:
- Secrecy pay clauses in contracts of employment will be banned.
- Positive action to be allowed during recruitment when faced with two equal candidates.
- Employers with over 250 staff may be forced to publish information about differences in pay between the sexes.
- Discrimination by association to be made unlawful by statute.
- Harmonising the definition of indirect discrimination across all strands of discrimination.
The Bill has to go through various stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords before it can be enacted. The Government is hoping the Bill will be passed by October 2010.
