The Race Relations Act 1976 (c. 74) was established by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent
discrimination on the grounds of race. The scope of the legislation included discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin in the fields of
employment
Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...
, the provision of goods and services, education and public functions.
In the field of employment, section 7 of the Act extended protection to "contract workers", that is, someone who works (or is prevented from working) for a person but is employed not by that person ("the principal") but by another person, who supplies the worker under a contract between the principal and the worker's employer. Typically this clause protects the rights of agency workers to be protected from racial discrimination. This provision was reviewed in a 2010 legal case, Leeds City Council v Woodhouse and Another,
[Leeds City Council v Woodhouse & Anor 010EWCA Civ 410] in which the courts opted for "a broad reading" of section 7 and the type of employment relationship involved, "so as not to restrict the protection for contract workers".
[Andrews, S.]
Protection for contract workers
''Local Government Lawyer'', published 8 June 2010, accessed 23 September 2020 In this particular case it was confirmed that employees of an arms length housing management organisation were protected as contract workers even though the principal had no management control over how their employer dealt with its staff.
The Act also established the
Commission for Racial Equality with a view to review the legislation, which was put in place to make sure the Act rules were followed.
The Act incorporated the earlier
Race Relations Act 1965 and
Race Relations Act 1968 and was later amended by the
Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, notably imposing a statutory duty on
public bodies to promote
racial equality and to demonstrate that procedures to prevent race discrimination were effective.
The Act was repealed by the
Equality Act 2010, which superseded and consolidated previous discrimination law in the UK.
See also
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Equality and diversity (United Kingdom)
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Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
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Ethnic relations
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UK employment discrimination law
References
External links
CRE page relating to race relations legislationBBC report on the introduction of the race relations Acts
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{{Authority control
Anti-racism in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1976
Anti-discrimination law in the United Kingdom
Race relations in the United Kingdom