How the Equality Act 2010 binds solicitors twice over — as providers of legal services and as employers — and the conduct it prohibits in each capacity.
A discriminatory policy or a single ill-judged act can expose a firm, and the individual responsible, to compensation with no upper limit. This chapter starts with the two capacities in which the Equality Act 2010 applies and the forms of prohibited conduct, then works through direct and indirect discrimination, the justifications available for each, and the disability-specific provisions, including the duty to make reasonable adjustments. It explains the two-stage burden of proof, the protection against victimisation, and how liability attaches both to firms vicariously and to employees personally, with the reasonable steps defence in between. It closes with positive action, the position of partners, the narrow grounds for declining instructions, and the practicalities of where claims are brought, the limitation periods that apply and the remedies on offer.
