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Emmanuell
Kusemamuriwo,
Policy
Adviser (Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity)
The
Equality Challenge Unit of Universities UK
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ILS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
14-16 September 2001
Title:
The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000: An Employer’s Perspective
- Introduction
The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 (RRAA) was a result of the Government’s response to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry recommendations on what needed to be done in order to work towards the elimination of racial discrimination from our society.
Besides making the seventy recommendations to the Government, perhaps the strongest message of the findings of the Inquiry was that of making it a responsibility for all British social institutions to………" examine their policies and practices to guard against disadvantaging any section of our communities." This is the central theme of what I would like to talk with you about today. This also needs to be the foundation of any employer’s perspective on the RRAA and its implications for all institutions.
The Government decided to go further than the Mcpherson recommendations, and with encouragement from other bodies like the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) committed to extending the scope and powers of the Race Relations 1976 to:
- outlaw all race discrimination (direct, indirect, victimisation and segregation) in all public authority functions not originally covered by the 1976 Act
- redefine "public authority" in a wider perspective in order to outlaw any race discrimination within public functions carried out by private sector organisations
- place a general duty on certain public bodies (those described in schedule 1) to have due regard, in carrying out their functions, to the need to:
- eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
- promote equality of opportunity
- promote good relations between people of different racial groups
- empower the Home Secretary to:
- extend the list of public bodies
- impose specific duties to ensure institutional compliance with the requirements of the general duty
- empower the CRE powers to issue Codes of Practice for institutions
- allow race discrimination cases to be brought before the courts
- The RRAA and the General Duty
The Race Relations Amendment Act came into force on 2 April 2001 aiming to mainstream the elimination of racial discrimination through ensuring that all the functions of certain public institutions are based on promoting equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different races.
These are the three parts of the general duty placed on all schedule 1 public institutions, by the Amendment Act. In the general duty, asking institutions to have "due regard" Government has taken away the option of institutions to decide whether they will comply or not, with its requirements. The weight given to racial equality within any function will therefore have to be proportionate to how relevant racial equality is within that particular function.
It is necessary to note that whatever their functions, every institution has to be minded to implement racial equality strategies within all its employment practices. This perhaps is fundamental to any employer’s perspective of the Act in its mainstream implications for employment practice, as will be explained later on in my talk.
- Specific Duties
These are set by the Home Secretary and are commensurate with the specific functions of the institution and are a way of complying with the general duty. Specific duties can also be considered to be a way of best practice proofing of the institution’s current functions. Specific duties are also about seeking to give added value to the existing institutional mechanisms, processes and procedures.
Since the general duty is the same for all public bodies, the key features for promoting race equality under the Act, within any given organisation will be as follows:
- monitoring of the workforce in order to ensure best practice for all employees despite their background
- evaluation and review of the impact of institutional policies, mechanisms and procedures inn order to ensure best practice in all functions of the institution
- consultation with all employees in order to identify and address the real needs of all concerned
- institutional policies are publicly stated and communicated to all employees
- The Code of Practice
The CRE is empowered by the Act to provide practical guidance and advice to public bodies, through the Code of Practice, on how to fulfil both their general and specific duties in promoting race equality. The Code of Practice will also include examples of best practice.
Public consultations on a draft of the Code are already being conducted with interested bodies, before being submitted to the Home Secretary for approval, the Code will then be presented to Parliament before it comes into force.
Though it will not be a legal document, the Code can be admissable as evidence in respect of a claim brought under the Act or an order to promote race equality.
- Enforcement
Though the process of judicial review will still be available to individuals, the duty to promote race equality by public institutions will be enforced through and by the CRE. The CRE is empowered to both serve and enforce compliance notices on public bodies that it believes are not fulfilling specific duties.
Notices can also be enforced through court orders, if necessary.
The CRE’s enforcement powers will only be invoked as a last resort after exhausting all endeavours to work collaboratively with targeted organisations.
- The employer’s perspective
Given the intentions of the RRAA, the employer’s perspective has to be informed by the implications of the Act on the functions of employers.
Clearly, the Act has ramifications for the employer both as a service provider and as an employer. Employers therefore need to embrace the added value factor on their functions accruing from the changes being brought about by the RRAA’s requirements.
For most institutions, whatever their specific functions, racial equality will always be relevant to all aspects of their employment practices.
In order for best, quality practice to be assured for all, in the areas of recruitment, selection, training, promotion, appraisal, support, grievance, discipline, redundancy and dismissal, employers need to, according to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry findings, " …examine their policies and practices to guard against disadvantaging any section of our communities…" Equality proofing employment practices, will also ensure that institutions work within the requirements of the general duty under the Amendment Act.
- Why employers should have a positive perspective of the RRAA
The world of work is continuously and rapidly changing. As well as economic and technological development, employers also have to manage the impact of social and demographic changes, not to mention the current world globalisation. The choice therefore is for employers to either wait until change forces us to react to it or anticipate, manage and act to work with it. The former costs money while the latter is more evolutionary and therefore complimentary to our existence.
There is also a business case to be made for why the employers’ perspective should be based on working with change. In a country that is becoming more and more multicultural and multiethnic in its population, employers are increasingly looking to implement best employment practices through meriting diversity. This will ensure that businesses are able to provide the best services that they can through:
- using the best talents available to the full, through meriting diversity
- selection decisions that are based on objective criteria not on unlawful discrimination, prejudice or stereotyping
- becoming an employer of choice where employees choose to work because they feel valued
- operating internationally with success by taking account of globalisation through a diverse work force
- making the company more attractive to investors through constantly working to implement best employment practice
- making the company more attractive to customers and clients through fair employment practices
- avoiding the cost of litigation through:
- negative publicity
- punitive awards
- low staff morale
- high staff turnover
- high absenteeism
- contributing to the social agenda in ensuring that economic strategies are inclusive of all communities, based on merit and the need to build a stable society.
- Conclusion
Clearly, the RRAA can be illustrated as a way towards realising best employment practice that will enable employers not only to harness the best employees from our diverse society but also work towards transforming Britain into the inclusive and prosperous society that will be an exemplar of fairness in an increasingly global world.