New duty imposed

Scan page 5

aternitv leave 21 Tabard St., London SEI 4LA.

The Sex Equality Bill, introduced by Jo Richardson, will fill the loopholes in the present sex discrimination law and introduce new rights to fight inequality and discrimination.

The Sex Equality Bill will:

*Allow part-time workers to claim equal pay (proportionately) with full-timers.

*Put a duty on government departments to promote equal opportunity policies.

*Put a duty on government departments to review existing and draft legislation to conform with the Sex Equality Bill.

*Make paternity leave a right for all fathers.

*Extend the powers of the Equal Opportunities Commission.

*Introduce equal pay for work of equal value constructively.

*Make it unlawful for private clubs to exclude women members from using facilities.

*Allow homeworkers to claim equal pay with other workers.

*Stop occupational pension schemes giving different beneAmong the proposed amendments and new additions to the present Sex Discrimination Act and Equal Pay Act are:

Amalgamation of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975. The idea behind the amalgamation of the two Acts is to:

a) simplify the legislation.

b) Bring the concept of indirect discrimination into pay.

c) Bring the concept of the 'hypothetical man' into pay.

a). Practical problems have been encountered by women who thought they were discriminated against at work, in deciding which Act applied to their circumstances. Broadly, contractual matters relating to No.28 1943 December Paper of the women's Lahou campagn Movenient for Womens Feyhthirt Rights in struggle fits to women and men who are members of the same scheme.

*Oblige employers to inform women of their rights under the Sex Equality Bill.

*Make discrimination against homosexual people at work unlawful, *Introduce stronger measures for positive action at school and at work.

*Make sexual work unlawful. employment are covered by the Equal Pay Act, whilst the Sex Discrimination Act covers recruitment policies, promotion, dismissals and redundancies, fringe benefits and other noncontractual matters.

As the procedures for testing whether discrimination has occured are different under the two Acts, the question of deciding which one to complain under is crucial. For example at present a complaint about equal pay before employment has commenced would be made under the Sex Discrimination Act; a complaint about equal pay after employment has commenced will come under the postRally for women's right to work Jo Richardson Equal Pay Act.

Amalgamation will mean the problem of deciding which Act to use will not arise.

b. The concept of indirect discrimination is extremely useful in dealing with 'hidden discrimination". It occurs where a requirement is applied to a mixed group but fewer members of one sex can comply with it than the other.

If the requirement cannot be justified it is unlawful.

In one case, Clarke and Powell v. Eley Ltd, it was found that the redundancy agreement which made part-time workers redundant before full-timers and full-timers redundant on a last-infirst-out basis, was unlawful. All Tory Minister Tom King worker might be able to claim that she had been indirectly discriminated against in pay and in wher terms and conditions of work, such as access to pension schemes, sick pay schemes and so on.

Women c) The Sex Discrimination Act allows a woman to compare her treatment with that of an actual man or with how a man would have been treated in similar circumstances. Under the Equal Pay Act a woman must find an actual man doing the same or broadly similar work or have had her job evaluated as the same or broadly similar in order to claim Duty to eliminate discrimination The Sex Equality Bill contains a new duty on government departments and local authorities to promote equal opportunity policies and to review those policies in order to ensure they are achieving their purpose.

It also requires government departments to review existing and draft legislation so that it conforms to the policy and objects of the Sex Equality Bill.

This is necessary as at present the Sex Discrimination Act exempts from its ambit all legislation passed before the date when the Sex Discrimination Act came into effect in DecemResearch commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission has shown that over the last few years fathers consider it of increasing importance to be at home around the time of the birth of their baby.

Since there is no statutory right to paternity leave, fathers have to make alternative arrangements to take time off work.

The Equal Opportunities Commission research found that most men took annual holiday leave at the time of the birth while others were forced to adopt a variety of informal arrangements such as sick leave or unpaid leave for which penalties were often incurred.

Paid leave

The Sex Equality Bill will amend the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 to allow fathers to take two weeks paid leave at the time of birth. It will also amend the EP(C)A so that with the woman's consent the father will be entitled to take 13 weeks maternity leave and to be reinstated in his job up until 29 weeks after the date of birth.

The father's paternity leave should start not before sixteen weeks after the date of the child's birth and if he takes up the right to maternity leave, the mother's right will be extinguished.

The Sex Equality Bill will also amend the EP(C)A so that the qualifying period for maternity rights will be reduced from two years to six months. Many organisations and individuals concerned with maternity rights have been calling for a reduction 01-251:3133 ber 1975.

The effect of this is that important areas of our lives are not covered by the provision of the Sex Discrimination Act and therefore discrimination in these areas is quite lawful - for example tax, where the married man's allowance makes a mockery of the equal pay provisions; social security law where married women are treated quite differently to single women and immigration rules where the foreign husbands of some British women are banned from living in this country whereas the foreign wives of all British men can legally live here with their husbands.

in the qualifying period for maternity pay and reinstatement.

The experience of most women at this time in their lives is that they are employed by the same employers for relatively short periods of time and many find it extremely difficult to build up the two years qualifying period.

Research has shown that a very small percentage of women use the right to reinstatement after maternity leave because they want to stay at home with their baby or they have difficulty making child care arrangements or because there is no right to return to work on a part-time basis.

But all women need the right to maternity pay. This is crucial or women ano must be made more widely available.

It is understood tht the Maternity Pay Fund has reserves that are not being used for maternity purposes because of the lack of take up of maternity pay. It should therefore be possible to support an increased demand that would result from a reduction in the qualifying period.

repeal", the section of the Employment Act on maternity leave which puts unfair and unreasonable pressure on a woman at this stage of her life. It should be enough to require the woman to inform her employer of her intentions before taking leave so that he can provide for maternity replacement and for her to confirm the date on which she plans to return without deadlines and consequent loss of reinstatement rights.

• wa URGENT:

Come to Greenham Common to embrace the base and show your opposition to Cruise. For details ring Greenham office or your local CND or women's group.

----- pull-quotes -----

WE SAY NO

Calling All women! Sunday 11th December '83