Equality Act. ‘Associative’ Discrimination.

The Equality Act comes into force on the 1st October 2010. In the run up to its introduction we will be looking at some of the interesting features of the Act. One issue the Act standardises is the concept of discrimination by association.

The ban on discrimination by association (for example a parent of a disabled child) will be extended to all protected characteristics. For example this will now cover spouses, partners, parents and carers who look after a disabled person or older relative from discrimination. They will be protected by virtue of their very close link to that person. The new definition of direct discrimination in S.13 makes no reference to the protected characteristic of any particular person.

This broader wording means that so-called ‘associative discrimination’ is covered. If Aardvark Associates passes Brenda over for a promotion because Brenda cares for her elderly mother, Aardvark can be held to have discriminated against Brenda because of age, even though Brenda’s age is not the reason, but the age of her mother.


James Carmody