Only persons who are married or in a civil partnership are protected against discrimination on the basis of marriage and civil partnership. Here you will find support, initiatives and instructions on marriage and civil partnerships. Indirect discrimination occurs when the employer applies to the married or cohabiting worker a provision, criterion or practice that applies or would also apply to all workers who are not married or in a civil partnership, but which disadvantages them without being able to demonstrate that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate objective. According to the Equality Challenge Unit, the protection of marriage and civil partnership offered by the Equality Act 2010 only protects people who are married or in a civil partnership from discrimination. It does not protect people who are single, divorced, widowed or have broken their civil partnership. Since the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013, the trait protected by marriage also includes those in same-sex marriages. Same-sex couples may also have their relationships legally recognized as ”civil partnerships.” Life partners cannot be treated less favourably than married couples (unless the Equality Act allows it). Refers to the protected property of the breed. It refers to a group of people defined by their race, colour and nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origin. Harassment provisions relating to other protected characteristics do not apply to marriage or civil partnership. However, if you are subjected to hostile, intimidating, degrading, degrading or offensive treatment because you are married or a life partner, you may be entitled to direct discrimination if you can prove that you have been treated worse than others who are not married or in a civil partnership. Same-sex marriage is currently not legally recognised in Northern Ireland.

However, in July 2019, MPs voted in favour of amending the Northern Ireland (Formation of the Executive and Exercise of Functions) Act extending marriage equality to Northern Ireland until 21 October 2019, unless devolution is restored on that date. A civil partnership is a civil partnership registered under the Civil Partnership Act 2004. This includes civil partnerships registered outside the UK. Marriage and civil partnership are one of the nine protected features of the Equality Act 2010. The purpose of the Act is to protect persons from direct and indirect discrimination and victimization based on a person`s marriage or civil partnership. The Equality Act of 2010 states that an employer cannot discriminate against you because you are married or in a civil partnership. People do not have this characteristic if they are: in certain circumstances, an employer may deny them a job because you are married or in a civil partnership if the work is for the purposes of an organized religion, for example, as a Catholic priest. Marriage is not specifically defined for the purposes of the EqA 2010. However, the EHRC code suggests that it ”covers any formal union between a man and a woman legally recognised as marriage in the UK”. The Code also suggests that a civil partnership refers to a civil partnership registered under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, including those registered outside the United Kingdom. If you want to file a complaint of discrimination, you need to know if you are someone who cannot be discriminated against under the Equality Act 2010.

Read this page to learn more about discrimination in marriage and civil partnership. Following the passage of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013, in England and Wales you can be disposed of either between a man and a woman or between same-sex partners. Marriage on an equal footing was also enshrined in law in Scotland in 2014 (with the passage of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Act (Scotland)) and in the Republic of Ireland in 2015 (following a referendum in which 62% of the population voted to legalise same-sex marriage). (1) A person has the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership if he or she is married or a life partner. They can only complain of discrimination against marriage and civil partnership in the workplace. If you are treated unfairly outside the workplace because you are married or in a civil partnership, this is not unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act. . . .