Equality Act 2004

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PART 2

Amendments to Employment Equality Act 1998

Amendment of section 2.

3.—Section 2 (interpretation) of the Act of 1998 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting the following definitions for those of “contract of employment”, “the Director”, “discrimination”, “employee” and “proceedings”:

“‘contract of employment’ means, subject to subsection (3)—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby—

(i) an individual agrees with another person personally to execute any work or service for that person, or

(ii) an individual agrees with a person carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 to do or perform personally any work or service for another person (whether or not the other person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and, if express, whether oral or written;

‘the Director’ means the Director of the Equality Tribunal;

‘discrimination’ includes the issue of an instruction to discriminate and, in Parts V and VI, includes prohibited conduct within the meaning of the Equal Status Act 2000 , and cognate words shall be contrued accordingly;

‘employee’, subject to subsection (3), means a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and, where the context admits, includes a member or former member of a regulatory body, but, so far as regards access to employment, does not include a person employed in another person's home for the provision of personal services for persons residing in that home where the services affect the private or family life of those persons;

‘proceedings’ means—

(a) proceedings before the person, body or court dealing with a request or reference under this Act by or on behalf of a person, and

(b) any subsequent proceedings, including proceedings on appeal, arising from the request or reference,

but does not include proceedings for an offence under this Act;”,

(ii) by substituting “section 12(2);” for “section 12(2).” in the definition of “vocational training” and by adding after that definition “and cognate words or expressions shall be construed accordingly.”,

(iii) by inserting the following definitions:

“‘collective agreement’ means an agreement between an employer and a body or bodies representative of the employees to which the agreement relates;

‘personal services’, in relation to such services provided in a person's home, includes but is not limited to services that are in the nature of services in loco parentis or involve caring for those residing in the home;

‘persons’, in sections 19, 22, 29 and 31 does not import the singular;

‘provision’ means a term in a contract of employment or a requirement, criterion, practice, regime, policy or condition relating to employment;”,

and

(iv) by deleting the definition of “relevant characteristic”,

(b) in subsection (3)—

(i) by deleting “and” at the end of paragraph (b),

(ii) by substituting “employer, and” for “employer.” in paragraph (c), and

(iii) by adding the following paragraph:

“(d) in the case of a contract mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) of the definition of ‘contract of employment’—

(i) references in this Act to an employee shall be construed as references to the party to the contract who agrees personally to execute the work or service concerned and references to an employer as references to the person for whom it is to be executed,

(ii) any comparisons to be made for any of those purposes shall be between persons personally executing work or service for the same person or an associated person under such a contract or contracts, and

(iii) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, references in sections 19(4)(a) and 22(1)(a) to employees shall be construed as references to those persons.”.