If your employer is making decisions about the level of pay they set or the benefits they give you in return for working for them, equality law applies to what they are doing.
Equality law applies:
Pages in this section include:
Core guidance: Pay and benefits
Situations where equality law is different
Decision about what pay and benefits workers will receive
Decisions about pay and benefits for women and men (equal pay)
This guide also contains the following sections, which are similar in each guide in the series, and contain information you are likely to need to understand what we tell you about pay and benefits:
Situations where equality law is different
Training and development opportunities
Promotion or transfer opportunities
This guide also contains the following sections, which are similar in each guide in the series, and contain information you are likely to need to understand what we tell you about training, development, promotion and transfer:
Information about when you are responsible for what other people do, such as your workers
Advice on what to do if someone says they’ve been discriminated against
Don't forget that specific rules apply to equal pay between women and men where pay or benefits are part of your contract of employment. If the reason for a difference in pay or benefits is or might be the your sex, in other words, the fact that you are a man or a woman, you should read decisions about pay and benefits for women and men (equal pay) to understand what the rules are.
This guide calls you a worker if you are working for someone else (who this guide calls your employer) in a work situation. Most situations are covered, even if you don't have a written contract of employment or if you are a contract worker rather than a worker directly employed by your employer. Other types of worker such as trainees, apprentices and business partners is also covered. If you are not sure, check under 'work situation' in the list of words and key ideas. Sometimes, equality law only applies to particular types of worker, such as employees, and we make it clear if this is the case.
More information:
Equality Act good practice guidance downloads
Protected characteristic's definitions
View the current guidance and information for workers