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Expansion of Equality Act Will Mean Employees Can Sue Bosses If Customers Offend Them

by Toby Young
2 April 2023 9:00 AM

The Sunday Telegraph reports that there’s a backbench rebellion brewing over the Worker Protection Bill, a private members’ bill sponsored by a couple of Lib Dems that would massively extend the Equality Act 2010 and which is being supported by the Government. Will Hazell and Edward Malnick have more.

Rishi Sunak is facing a Tory revolt over “draconian” laws that will allow shop assistants, bar staff and doctors to sue their employers if a member of the public offends them at work.

New harassment rules on the brink of becoming law will enable medics to sue the NHS if a patient insults them, allow bar staff to take legal action against landlords if they are offended by drunk punters, and let baristas take coffee shop owners to a tribunal if they overhear offensive remarks made by customers.

Senior Tories warn the proposed law will lead to an explosion of litigation and force business owners to run their establishments like a “police state”.

A Whitehall source said ministers were “sleep walking” into a “big expansion” of the Labour-era Equality Act, which Mr Sunak had previously blamed for enabling “woke nonsense to permeate public life”.

The row will come as a major embarrassment to the Prime Minister, who has been seeking to position the Conservatives against “woke” policies that are unpopular with many business owners and working-class voters.

Tory backbenchers accused the Government of “taking their eye off the ball” by supporting a “mad” Private Member’s Bill, sponsored by two Liberal Democrat parliamentarians, on course to become law within weeks.

The Bill was waved through the Commons without a vote during a Friday sitting when most MPs were back in their constituencies.

Ministers are under pressure to ditch or gut the legislation, with backbenchers warning that purported “freedom of speech” protections added into the Bill will do little to save employers from crippling litigation.

The Worker Protection Bill will make employers liable for staff being harassed by “third parties” such as customers or members of the public. It introduces a legal requirement for companies and public bodies to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent this.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said establishments that “serve the public can expect to run a police state in their business”, while Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, said it had “sinister implications”. Another Conservative MP, Craig Mackinlay, said he believed the change was “draconian”.

Lord Frost, the former Cabinet Office minister, described the Bill as a “woke, socialist measure” that would “have a chilling effect on every conversation in a workplace”.

Lord Strathcarron, a Tory peer who runs a publishing firm, said bookshops could be put off inviting authors such as JK Rowling to give talks, “on the off chance that one of the author’s fans might be wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘Woman Equals Adult Human Female’, knowing that an employee could sue for hurt feelings – real or vexatious”.

Other scenarios, he added, could include “somebody going into the Dog and Duck … then insulting the barman, and the barman suing the landlord. Or someone going for an MOT, the car fails, and they slag off the mechanic and the mechanic sues the garage owner. It’s mad and no one’s thought it through.”

While a separate clause in the Bill putting a duty on bosses to prevent the sexual harassment of employees commands broad support, peers are demanding the Government drop the introduction of a new obligation on employers to prevent harassment by third parties that relates to a “protected characteristic” such as sex, gender reassignment or age. Critics fear this will lead to companies having to expel clients over trivial incidents and facing costly litigation by staff.

Worth reading in full.

The Free Speech Union has been campaigning vigorously against this bill, but it hasn’t attracted nearly as much scrutiny as it should. Let’s hope this article changes that. You can read the FSU’s briefing on the bill here.

Stop Press: The Sunday Telegraph has published a strong leader urging the Government to rethink this bill.

Tags: Banter BouncersEquality Act 2010Rishi SunakWar on WokeWorker Protection Bill

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28 Comments
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Gordon's Alive
Gordon's Alive
1 year ago

This government has cost the country billions upon billions of pounds due to lockdowns and other covid-related nonsense (PPE, track and trace, eat out to help out, useless gene therapies, etc). This money can never be recouped but something that can be done is to dramatically cut public sector spending.

The non-conservative Tories have expanded the state beyond all recognition and this needs cutting with a scythe. There needs to be a cull of the hundreds of thousands of useless public sector jobs, starting with the DIE managers. If they have a modicum of talent, they may be able to get jobs in the private sector as admin assistants.

121
0
DickieA
DickieA
1 year ago
Reply to  Gordon's Alive

Spot on. Unfortunately, this is one of the main reasons that the Tories are hemorrhaging support. Since Mrs. Thatcher was ousted, the spineless, dripping wet majority in the party have never had the cajones to cut back the state nor reform the NHS. It’s taken 30 years for many of them, but more and more of their supporters can see how much the party has let them down.

77
0
JeremyP99
JeremyP99
1 year ago
Reply to  Gordon's Alive

And so say all of us.

I’m an old school Conservative. Two things I wanted when voting for Bojo.

  1. Brexit. Which they fucked up comprehensively
  2. A smaller state. So what did they do? Grotesquely enlarge it. Not sure Corbyn would have caused as much damage.

Won’t be voting this year way things are. Reform – yeah, but Tice is a nobody.

37
0
Jackthegripper
Jackthegripper
1 year ago
Reply to  JeremyP99

Better to vote Reform and shake thing up than not vote. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain about the result. Tice is a smart and competent businessman.

14
0
RTSC
RTSC
1 year ago
Reply to  JeremyP99

Tice is a “don’t scare the horses” leader: pleasant, easy on the eye and with sound business experience.

Farage, Habib and Widdecombe supply the passion.

0
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
1 year ago

Where is the Magic Money Tree when you need it?

35
0
soundofreason
soundofreason
1 year ago
Reply to  For a fist full of roubles

Already been stripped bare.

16
0
JeremyP99
JeremyP99
1 year ago
Reply to  soundofreason

Uprooted indeed

7
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
1 year ago

Recession….incoming!

15
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago

All going to plan for the Davos Deviants. Once this country is in hock to the central bankers we are well and truly Tom Ducked.

22
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
1 year ago

Jonathan Lis on Talk Tv via New Culture Forum !! What a leftie Chunt !!…

5
0
pgstokes
pgstokes
1 year ago

Then cut spending – reduce the civil service; privatise more of the NHS (overdue anyway); get rid of some benefits; cut overseas aid; stop assistance for migrants?

36
-1
JeremyP99
JeremyP99
1 year ago
Reply to  pgstokes

Go French. Their system works jus fine. Problem – we don’t have the nous to effect the switch and there would be a public sector general strike – “Save our beyond useless NHS” would be the slogan

https://edmhdotme.wpcomstaging.com/why-the-health-service-works-in-france-11-2022/

16
-1
Monro
Monro
1 year ago

‘….the scale of the challenge faced by politicians….’

The IFS highlights the symptoms.

The disease is socialist fascism.

The real challenge faced by politicians is, first, to reform themselves:

Get rid of the ‘payroll vote’ by dramatically reducing the size of government, the cabinet, double MPs salaries to improve their calibre and increase their independence. Abolish the House of Lords and set up a professional second revising chamber appointed by an independent commission.

None of this will ever happen so, instead, a system of proportional representation is required. First past the post has run its course.

Oh, and remove parliament from the ‘Palace of Westminster’.

They deserve a modern building of utilitarian design.

10
-1
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 year ago
Reply to  Monro

“They deserve a modern building of utilitarian design.”

Totally agree. I believe the very large warehouse style building that was once occupied by Staples, the office supplies firm, in that fine place called Stevenage New Town, is empty. Stevenage has great transport links by road and rail, affordable (for the Southeast) housing, great shopping. What more could they wish for?

16
0
Grim Ace
Grim Ace
1 year ago

The British parliamentary system was invented by aristocrats as a way of governing in an aristocratic way. Aristocrats went up against other aristocrats and were elected by people with money or property. As the pressure came on for reform of the voting system (otherwise revolution might ensue), they had to modify it to suit this new, wider franchise. So we still have an aristocratic system that is well past its sell by date perhaps. We also need to be done with the Norman feudalism that is the Royal family. The sovereign still owns everything – you hold the deeds to your house ‘freehold’ (free to hold unless the sovereign decides otherwise). So we are all still serfs working within a Norman invaders rule set.
I suggest PR for MPs, and only 150 of them. An elected revising chamber also of only about 100 members. And perhaps keep the royals but with no powers to approve any legislation whatsoever
Also we should have referendums for all legislation. The people would be the final approvers of laws. The MPs and revising chamber would only advise us. Also that way there would probably be a strong brake on too much legislation because it would take longer to enact because of the delay caused by waiting for referenda approval.

Last edited 1 year ago by Grim Ace
11
0
Jackthegripper
Jackthegripper
1 year ago

The UK is over £2trillion in debt and November’s debt interest payment was over £7billion so around £80nillion a year, give or take a few billion!
With our levels of debt and ever-increasing public sector, taxes cannot be cut without increasing taxes elsewhere.
So the question for every politician to answer is – What services will you cut to make savings?
A few ideas to get the ball rolling:
Turn the NHS in to a social insurance model and introduce competition
Scrap the Climate Change Act and Net-Zero
Reduce the Civil Service, Johnson promised to get rid of 90,000 of these leaches.
Scrap the public sector pension scheme and replace with a defined contribution scheme
Fulfil the “bonfire of the quangos” the Tories promised to carry out

15
0
RTSC
RTSC
1 year ago

Socialists always run out of other people’s money.

1997-2009, it was the Red Socialists who did it.

2009-2024, the Blue Socialists have done it.

Now it seems, it’s to be the Red Socialists turn again.

Unless a miracle happens and we get REFORM.

0
0

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