What's New?

1. Equality Act 2017 (Age Exceptions for Pension Schemes) Order 2019
   
   This Order, which has been made by the Treasury, contains permitted exceptions for occupational pension schemes, employer contributions to personal pension schemes etc. where it is lawful to discriminate on the protected characteristic of age.
   
   
2. Equality Act 2017: Statutory Code of Practice on Employment (2019)
   
   The Statutory Code of Code, which has been issued by the Cabinet Office, provides authoritative, comprehensive and technical guidance to help individuals and organisations understand the Equality Act and their responsibilities.
   
   
3. Employment and Equality Tribunal (Amendment) Rules 2019
   
   These Rules, which have been made by the Cabinet Office, amend the Employment and Equality Tribunal Rules 2018 by setting out the procedure for dealing with any work of equal value claims under the Equality Act.

As well as protecting people in work from being subjected to prohibited conduct to do with a protected characteristic the Equality Act has amended the following Acts:

1. the Redundancy Payments Act 1990 
2. the Shops Act 2000
3. the Minimum Wage Act 2001
4. the Employment Act 2006
5. the Control of Employment Act 2014

Some of the amendments are related to the main equality provisions while others are not.

Amendments to general employment law made by the Equality Act 2017 July 2017 to January 2020

1. Over compulsory school age but under 18 - £6.15
2. Aged over 18 (except for Development Workers) - £8.25
3. Development Worker - £7.30

Minimum wage

On 1st January 2019 the Employment and Equality Tribunal (EET) replaced the existing Employment Tribunal. The new Tribunal will continue to deal with complaints under the Island's employment statutes, such as the Employment Act 2006 and it will also deal with complaints under the Equality Act 2017. Permissible complaints under the Equality Act comprise not only complaints about employment but also complaints about the provision of goods and services, premises, education etc. To this end new Tribunal Rules have been made which came operation on 1 January 2019.