Equity, diversity and inclusion

Use this series of pages to understand your core legal responsibilities to your employees. For information about an employer’s responsibilities to its volunteers, read our guidance on involving volunteers.

This page is not a substitute for legal advice and doesn’t cover every aspect of employment law. For legal advice, contact an employment lawyer or human resources (HR) specialist.

Every employee has the right not to be discriminated against or to suffer a detriment (be treated unfairly) on grounds of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

These are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment,
• marriage and civil partnership,
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion and belief
• sex
• sexual orientation.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers have certain legal obligations towards an employee with a disability.

Under the Act, a person has a disability if:

• they have a physical or mental impairment
• the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities.

For the purposes of the Act:

• ‘a physical or mental impairment’ covers a range of conditions, including cancer, MS, HIV and AIDS
• 'substantial' means more than minor or trivial
• 'long-term' means the effects last (or are likely to last) at least 12 months
• 'normal day-to-day activities' include everyday things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping.

If your employee is disabled, you have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to help them do their job.

This includes things like:

• providing practical aids and technical equipment
• allocating to another employee some tasks that cannot be done easily by the disabled employee
• a phased return to work after absence due to disability.

GOV.UK offers more guidance on employing people with a disability or health condition.

Men and women have the right to equal pay if they’re doing equal work (the same or similar work, or work of equal value) for the same employer.

Acas provides more guidance on an employee’s right to equal pay.

Part-time workers have the right to be treated no less favourably than comparable full-timers, on the grounds of part-time status. Any less favourable treatment must be objectively justified.

Acas offers more information on the rights of part-time workers.

Employees on fixed-term contracts have the right to be treated no less favourably than comparable permanent employees, unless it can be objectively justified.

GOV.UK has more guidance on the rights of people on fixed-term contracts.

Our guidance can help you get started with improving your approach to equity, diversity and inclusion.

• Get started with equity, diversity and inclusion – our guide to concepts of equity, diversity and inclusion and why voluntary organisations should act.
• The Equality Act: Your legal duties – an overview of the Equality Act 2010.
• Respond to discrimination – links to organisations that can help if you are worried about discrimination or harassment in your organisation.
• Equal opportunities policy – a sample document to help you develop your own policy.