Equality and Human Rights Commission
| EHRC link | |
|---|---|
| File:EHRC.jpg | |
| Abbreviation | EHRC |
| Predecessor | Commission for Racial Equality, Equal Opportunities Commission, Disability Rights Commission |
| Formation | 1 October 2007 |
| Leaders | Equality and Human Rights Commission/Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission/CEO |
| Interests | equality, human rights |
| Membership | Baroness Falkner, Caroline Waters, Marcial Boo, Eryl Besse, Jessica Butcher, Alasdair Henderson, Helen Mahy, Akua Reindorf, Lesley Sawers, Sue-Mei Thompson |
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The EHRC has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of equality and non-discrimination laws in England, Scotland and Wales.
The current head of the EHRC is Kishwer Falkner, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, who took over from David Isaac in December 2020.
Origins
The EHRC took on the responsibilities of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission. It also has responsibility for other aspects of equality law: age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. A national human rights institution, it is
Scope
The EHRC has offices in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Cardiff. It is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored by the Government Equalities Office, part of the Department for Education (DfE). It is separate from and independent from Government but accountable for its use of public funds. The EHRC's functions do not extend to Northern Ireland, where there is a separate Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) and a Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), each established under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.[1]
Investigating the BBC
On 12 March 2019, the EHRC launched an investigation into suspected past pay discrimination against women at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC):
Following complaints that female employees were not being paid the same as men for equal work, the BBC has voluntarily provided us with a large amount of information about its pay policies and practices.
After looking at all of the information, we suspect that some women at the organisation have not received equal pay for equal work.
We are using our powers under the Equality Act to open an investigation, which will look at whether BBC staff experienced unlawful pay discrimination from 1 January 2016.
We will look at formal and informal pay complaints raised with the BBC by staff to decide if there has been unlawful pay discrimination against women and whether complaints have been adequately resolved.
We hope to finish our investigation by the end of 2019. We will publish a report once the investigation is done, setting out our findings, any action we have taken and recommendations for the BBC.[2]
Investigating the Labour Party
On 7 March 2019, the EHRC opened an investigation into the Labour Party saying that the party may have "unlawfully discriminated against people because of their ethnicity and religious beliefs" as it announced the first step of a statutory inquiry into Labour's handling of antisemitism complaints.
The action by ECHR follows legal complaints made by Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Jewish Labour Movement last year, which have argued that the party is not compliant with equalities law in dealing with antisemitism.
Gideon Falter, chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said:
- “It is a sad indictment that the once great anti-racist Labour party is now being investigated by the equality and human rights regulator it established just a decade ago.”
A Labour party spokesperson said:
- “We completely reject any suggestion the party has acted unlawfully and will be cooperating fully with the EHRC. Labour is fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and its organisations. Antisemitism complaints received since April 2018 relate to about 0.1% of our membership, but one antisemite in our party is one too many. We are determined to tackle antisemitism and root it out of our party.”[3]
Brace yourselves!
On 7 March 2019, Jonathan Cook tweeted:
- "The British state's efforts to weaponise anti-semitism to oust Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour leadership goes public as the equalities watchdog body opens an investigation. Brace yourselves - this ain't go to end until Corbyn is gone and Watson restores 'order'."[4]
Confected antisemitism allegations
On 27 March 2019, Jonathan Cook tweeted:
- "It is the Labour Party's lynching of black anti-racism activists (and Corbyn allies) Jackie Walker and Marc Wadsworth - both now expelled - that needs investigating by the Equality & Human Rights Commission, not confected anti-semitism allegations."[5]
Leaked Labour report
A leaked internal report shows that the Labour Party’s bureaucrats conspired to undermine their own leader Jeremy Corbyn from the start, even sabotaging the UK/2017 General Election campaign.[6]
It also reveals how Labour’s left-wing leaders came to embrace the right’s witch hunt against members over the manufactured anti-Semitism crisis.[7]
John McDonnell, Labour’s former Shadow Chancellor, said the report was commissioned by General Secretary Jennie Formby and put together by the party’s Governance and Legal Unit. It was due to be submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation into antisemitism in the party, but that move was blocked by Labour’s lawyers.[8]
EHRC report published
On 29 October 2020, the EHRC published its 130-page report which found the Labour Party responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act 2010.[9] The EHRC said there were “serious failings in the Labour Party leadership in addressing antisemitism and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints”. One breach by Ken Livingstone, the former London mayor, and two breaches by Pam Bromley, a councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire, amounted to harassment of Jewish members under law.
The EHRC uncovered what it said was inappropriate interference in the complaints process over antisemitism by staff from Corbyn’s office, with 23 instances found, including staff exerting influence on decisions on areas such as member suspensions or whether to investigate claims. Some of these decisions were made “because of likely press interest rather than any formal criteria”, it said. While there was a wider culture of political interference in certain complaints, the report said this occurred more often in antisemitism cases, and was thus found to be discriminatory and unlawful.
The report details comments by Ken Livingstone and Pam Bromley that it says amounted to unlawful harassment because they were found to have antisemitic themes or suggested complaints about antisemitism were faked or smears. It notes that Bromley made repeated Facebook posts with antisemitic themes, for example defending references to the Rothschild banking group, and complaining about a “fog of fake accusations of antisemitism” and calling herself the victim of a “witch-hunt”.
Complaints were made about her in May 2017, but Bromley was only suspended from the party in April 2018, a day after an article in The Times about her comments.
On Ken Livingstone and Pam Bromley, the report says:
- “As these people were acting as agents of the Labour Party, the Labour Party was legally responsible for their conduct. In each case, the EHRC considered the perception of those affected by the conduct, and Labour Party members told the EHRC that the comments contributed to a hostile environment for Jewish and non-Jewish members.”[10]
EHRC report picked apart
In 2022, Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC contributed a highly critical introduction to the JVL/Verso book "How the EHRC Got it so Wrong: Antisemitism and the Labour Party", which examined the EHRC report’s conclusions and found:
• no evidence of widespread antisemitism, direct discrimination or victimisation in the Labour Party
• no evidence that Corbyn or his office were responsible for the Party's poor handling of complaints
• no evidence that Corbyn or his office sought systematically to undermine antisemitism complainants or protected those accused
• a dangerous disregard by the EHRC for the elementary democratic as well as legal principle of free speech.[11]
Interviewed by Crispin Flintoff on the Not the Andrew Marr Show of 19 February 2023, Sir Geoffrey Bindman gave an authoritative answer to the four questions put to him:
- What is the background of the EHRC?
- Why would the EHRC conduct a report into antisemitism in the Labour Party?
- What did the EHRC uncover?
- Does the EHRC report give Keir Starmer a justification to stop Jeremy Corbyn standing as a Labour candidate?[12]
Ten Commissioners
The EHRC Board comprises:
- Baroness Falkner, Chair
- Caroline Waters, Deputy Chair
- Marcial Boo, CEO (ex-officio Commissioner)
- Eryl Besse
- Jessica Butcher
- Alasdair Henderson
- Helen Mahy
- Akua Reindorf
- Lesley Sawers
- Sue-Mei Thompson
The Chair and Commissioners are public appointments made by the Minister for Women and Equalities. The latest round of appointments was announced in May 2018.
Some of the first set of Commissioners resigned towards the end of their first term, while others did not seek a second term. The Commissioners included Morag Alexander, Kay Allen, Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, Jeannie Drake CBE, Joel Edwards, Mike Smith, Professor Kay Hampton, Francesca Klug, Sir Bert Massie CBE, Ziauddin Sardar, Ben Summerskill and Dr Neil Wooding. Nicola Brewer, the first CEO (and ex officio Commissioner), returned to HM Diplomatic Service.
Strong Jewish presence
On 12 May 2016, the Jewish Chronicle reported:
- "There is a strong Jewish presence at the top of Britain's equality watchdog. David Isaac, new chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, took up office this week, joining Rebecca Hilsenrath, who was made CEO of the body last autumn."[13]
Industrial relations
Six EHRC staff were sacked by email on 9 February 2017 and given a day to clear their desks. Since then another two staff have been dismissed and two Directors are serving their notice. Another member of staff is still at risk of dismissal. Those sacked on 9 February had payment in lieu of notice (PILON) which workers did not agree to because it closes off the opportunity to seek redeployment at the Commission or elsewhere in the civil service.
In a letter the PCS union stated:
- "By imposing PILON you are cutting off this option and effectively consigning BME, disabled, women and trade union members to unemployment. There should only be PILON in cases where the individual concerned has agreed to it."
Commenting on the cases, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:
- "It's absolutely reprehensible that dedicated staff have been sacked and told to clear their desks with a day's notice. "That this has happened at the government body charged with upholding human rights and fair treatment in our society is an absolute scandal and we will continue to fight it."[14]
Employment Tribunal Cases
In November 2018 the Commission paid compensation to staff #sackedbyemail who were taking unfair dismissal cases to an Employment Tribunal.
References
- ↑ "Our Commissioners, committees and governance"
- ↑ "Investigation: Does the BBC pay women and men equally for equal work?"
- ↑ "Labour antisemitism: equalities watchdog opens investigation"
- ↑ "Brace yourselves!"
- ↑ "Confected antisemitism allegations"
- ↑ "Leaked Labour report"
- ↑ "Leaks show how Labour sabotaged Corbyn"
- ↑ "Labour party faces financial peril over leaked report"
- ↑ "Investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party"
- ↑ "Labour responsible for harassment and discrimination, EHRC antisemitism inquiry finds"
- ↑ "Geoffrey Bindman & Jenny Manson on 'Not the Andrew Marr Show'”
- ↑ "EHRC picked apart by leading lawyer"
- ↑ "Equal opportunity knocks"
- ↑ "Disgraceful and humiliating treatment of sacked EHRC workers as they clear their desks"
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