ABSTRACT
Legislation specifically covers race, religion or belief, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation and disability, and will in due course cover age. The principal domestic legislation is the Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976, the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975 and Equal Pay Act (EqPA) 1970. In addition (deriving from European Community law) there are statutory instruments covering religion or belief (in force since 2 December 2003) and sexual orientation (in force since 1 December 2003). European legislation specifically covers equal pay between sexes (Art 141 of the EC Treaty), sex (Equal Treatment Directive 76/207), race (Race Directive 2000/43), nationality (Art 39 of the EC Treaty) and religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation (Equal Treatment in Employment Directive 2000/78). This EC-derived legislation2 is confined to employment matters, except for the Race Directive, which, like the RRA 1976 and SDA 1975, extends to other fields such as the provision of services, housing and education.
