In the modern workplace, organisations have been investing in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Done properly these can be valuable tools for driving positive culture. ( I’ve done a previous article about EDI done badly.
But there’s another hard truth many are ignoring:
EDI is a “nice to have.”
Equality law compliance is a legal obligation.
The ongoing Sandie Peggie Employment Tribunal involving NHS Fife underscores this point. Despite employing an EDI officer, NHS Fife reportedly had no dedicated Equality Law adviser. If accurate, this represents a fundamental organisational failure: enthusiasm for inclusion, but no legal capacity to ensure statutory compliance.
EDI focuses on aspirations. Equality law demands obligations.
The Equality Act 2010 is not an abstract ideal. It imposes binding duties, including the Public Sector Equality Duty (s.149) and provides enforceable rights to individuals. Claims of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation are not reputational matters alone; they are legal liabilities.
Crucially, where rights conflict, law, not sentiment or fashionable causes must prevail.
Workplace disputes can involve competing rights: belief vs. identity, privacy vs. transparency, dignity vs. freedom of expression. These tensions cannot be resolved by generic EDI training or well-meaning facilitation alone. They require structured legal analysis, procedural fairness, and risk-managed decision-making. None of which can be outsourced to goodwill.
Inclusion strategies must be underpinned by lawful, evidence-based procedures for investigating and adjudicating such conflicts.
Equality law provides the legal architecture for doing so. EDI does not.
NHS Fife’s case should be a wake-up.
If you’re serious about genuine equality, diversity inclusion, start by embedding equality law into the fabric of your operations. It’s not enough to value diversity, you must understand and comply with the law, as it is interpreted by mainstream equality law specialists.