Guidance has been issued - with a series of case studies - setting out the rights and responsibilities outlined in the island’s Equality Act.

The Act received Royal Assent in July 2017 and has been brought into force in stages with the final provisions taking effect from next month (January).

It has created for the first time in the island a comprehensive set of rights and protections for individuals with different protected characteristics - race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

But a foreword to the statutory code of practice, being laid before next week’s Tynwald sitting, says legislation in itself is not sufficient to help bring greater equality to employment, access to goods and services, education or public services.

’It is only through individuals understanding their rights and protections and also organisations and individuals understanding and embracing their responsibilities to support equality, diversity and inclusion that meaningful change happens,’ it says.

The guidance provides information and examples to help individuals and organisations understand the Equality Act, the protections available and their responsibilities.

One of the areas defined under the act as a protected characteristic is gender reassignment.

The guidance gives the example of a worker who tells his colleagues that he intends to come to formal dinner organised by his employer, dressed as a woman ’for a laugh’.

His manager tells him not to do this, as it would create a bad image of the company. Because the worker has no intention of undergoing gender reassignment, he would not have a claim for discrimination.

On the other hand, if the employer had said the same thing to a worker who dressed as a woman as part of the process of reassigning their sex, this could amount to direct discrimination.

Religion or belief is another protected characteristic.

But for a philosophical belief to be protected under the Act, it must be genuinely held.

The guidance gives the example of a woman who believes in a philosophy of racial superiority for a particular racial group, a belief around which she centres the important decisions in her life.

This is not compatible with human dignity and conflicts with the fundamental rights of others. It would therefore not constitute a ’belief’ for the purposes of the Act, the guidance notes.

The guide explains the difference between direct and indirect discriminiation.

Direct discrimination occurs when a person treats another less favourably than they treat or would treat others because of a protected characteristic.

But indirect discrimination may occur when an employer applies an apparently neutral practice which puts workers sharing a protected characteristic at a disadvantage.

Transgender

The guidance gives the example of masculine-looking woman who applies for a job as a sales representative.

The sales manager thinks that she is transgender because of her appearance and does not offer her the job, even though she performed the best at interview.

The woman would have a claim for direct discrimination because of perceived gender reassignment, even though she is not in fact transgender.

Another example sets out a case where indirect discrimination could not be claimed.

An airline operates a dress code which forbids workers in customer-facing roles from displaying any item of jewellery.

A Christian cabin steward complains this policy indirectly discriminates against Christians by preventing them from wearing the cross in a necklace.

However, because he is no longer a practising Christian and not living by the principles of the Bible, the steward is not put at a particular disadvantage by this policy and could not bring a claim for indirect discrimination.

In Tynwald next week, Treasury Minister Alfed Cannan will move an order that provides exemptions to unlawful age discrimination under the Equality Act in relation to occupational pension schemes.