Protection Provided to Employees in the Public Services Essay

Protection Provided to Employees in the Public Services - Essay Example Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 is applied to both men and women, which makes sex discrimination in employment, vocational training, education, the provision and sales goods, facilities and services as well as premises, unlawful. To clarify Great British law which is related to gender reassignment the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) regulations 1999 was enacted. It is a measure in order to prevent discrimination against transsexual people on the grounds of sex in pay and treatment in employment as well as vocational training. In April 2007, Gender Equality Duty came into force and it is the biggest change in sex equality legislation in thirty years since the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced. In recognition of the need for a radical new approach to equality, it was introduced, which placed service providers the responsibility to think strategically about gender equality, rather than living it to the individuals to challenge poor practice. For Employers, Equal Pay Act 1970 makes it unlawful to discriminate between men and women in terms of their pay as well as conditions where they are doing similar work, work rated as equivalent, or work of equal value. It is applied to both men and women however it does not give everyone the right to claim equal pay with a person of the same sex. That is, in other words, any comparison must be with a person of the opposite sex. In 2003, the act was amended (Sheard, A., 2006d). Based on Race Race Relations Act, 1976, makes it unlawful to treat a person less favourable than the others on the grounds of race. This includes protection of people against racial discrimination the grounds of race, colour, nationality (citizenship), as well as national or ethnic origin, in the fields of employment, education, training, housing, and the provision of goods, facilities as well as services. In order to eliminate institutional racism and prohibit racial discrimination in all public functions with only a few exceptions and give a new statutory duty to promote race equality, Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 was enacted. Its aims are to provide fair and accessible services as well as improve equal opportunities in employment. The general duty of this Act is to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination, to promote equal opportunities as well as to promote good relations between people from the different racial group; and under these duties, public authorities must prepare and publish a Race Equality Scheme which should explain how general, as well as specific duties, will be met.     Ã‚