Marriage and civil partnership
Part 2 Equality: key concepts
(1)A person has the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership if the person is married or is a civil partner.
(2)In relation to the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership—
(a)a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person who is married or is a civil partner;
(b)a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons who are married or are civil partners.
Section 8 protects the fact or status of being married or a civil partner. A claim is arguable where married status forms an operative part of the employer’s factual reason for treatment, including a marriage-specific composite reason.
The court applied the provision to identify the protected characteristic as being married or a civil partner. (see para [6])
3 more judgments, and what each says about section 8, are in the case-law panel in the full Act.
44.This section defines the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership. People who are not married or civil partners do not have this characteristic.
45.The section also explains that people who have or share the common characteristics of being married or of being a civil partner can be described as being in a marriage or civil partnership. A married man and a woman in a civil partnership both share the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership.
46.This section replaces similar provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.