ABSTRACT
This is a fairly tricky essay since it is very broad: a large number of areas of law are relevant. Your answer will have to be selective and this should be made clear at the outset. The potential to use the HRA clearly renders this field complex. Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in employment was covered from December 2003 by the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 implementing European Council Directive 2000/78/EC, the ‘Framework Directive’. Discrimination on this ground in employment but, importantly, also in the other spheres mentioned can also be addressed in certain circumstances by using the HRA, and relying on Arts 8 and 14. The HRA is significant in respect of discrimination generally in three respects. First, a free-standing action could be brought under it, relying on s 7(1)(a), against a public authority allegedly discriminating on one of these grounds. This possibility is, however, most likely to arise in practice in relation to discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. Secondly, any body, including private bodies, allegedly discriminating on one of these grounds in reliance on legislative provisions in, say, housing could find that the use of s 3 of the HRA means that the discrimination is outlawed. Again, this possibility is of most relevance to sexual orientation and possibly disability since the Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976 and the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975 cover housing. The RRA, SDA and Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 could in theory be widened in reliance on the HRA, or situations that they do not cover could in some circumstances be addressed by using the HRA. However, the reach of the RRA, the SDA and, to a lesser extent, the DDA means that there are not many situations that could be addressed by the HRA which could not be more properly addressed by the specific legislation that covers them. In particular, the HRA only applies to public authorities, while the RRA, the SDA and the DDA apply to both public and private bodies. The answer needs to make these quite difficult points in relation mainly to the second half of the question.
