The nine protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, who each one covers, and the forms of prohibited conduct through which discrimination claims are framed.
Every discrimination claim stands or falls on matching the right characteristic to the right form of prohibited conduct, so the definitions matter as much as the causal tests. This chapter opens with the structure of a claim — the nine characteristics, the elements a claimant must establish and the shifting burden of proof — before showing that protection extends beyond the claimant's own characteristics through perception and association. It then works through the characteristics themselves: the four-part statutory definition of disability and its deemed and excluded conditions, the scope of gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, and religion or belief, and the comparator-free regime for pregnancy and maternity. It closes with the mechanics of direct discrimination, harassment and indirect discrimination, then the disability-specific claims under ss 15 and 20, the occupational requirement exception and tie-break positive action in recruitment.
