The Workplace Fairness Act must go further if discrimination is to be stamped out

Aware is concerned over gaps in the legislation to do with LGBTQ and disabled workers, and omission of salary decisions.

- Sugidha Nithiananthan and Rayner Tan

Protection for workers has taken another major step forward in the new year. After months of hard work from the Government and its tripartite partners, stakeholders and various MPs, the new Workplace Fairness Act (WFA) was passed on Jan 8 in Parliament.

The WFA has five categories of protected characteristics: age; nationality; sex, marital status, pregnancy status, and caregiving responsibilities; race, religion, and language; and disability and mental health conditions.

An employer cannot discriminate against workers based on any of these characteristics when making employment decisions.

While Aware is happy to see this landmark anti-discrimination legislation finally passed, it does not go far enough to protect all workers. This is something many MPs also raised during the debate on the Bill which was tabled in November 2024.

The definitions of these protected characteristics leave out some groups of vulnerable workers. For example, the definition of "disability" does not include learning disabilities such as dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or chronic medical conditions such as cancer or long Covid.

This contrasts with the functional approach of other jurisdictions. For example, "disability" is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Protecting such vulnerable workers will not further burden employers because the law provides exceptions where the genuine requirements of the job require certain hiring decisions to be taken.