The wrong trousers

Your employer isn’t completely off the hook, however. Courts and tribunals are public bodies and when reaching their decisions will have to take into account human rights issues. So, in the dress code example, when deciding your unfair dismissal case, the tribunal may well end up taking note of your rights to freedom of expression.

The other main problem is that your employer has a number of general defences under the Act. Your boss may be able to justify infringing your rights if he can show, say, that he’s protecting his lawful business interests. May sound easier said than done – but it’s quite likely that employers may be able to justify, say, monitoring your emails or tapping your phone on the basis that it’s necessary on a quality control basis, to protect the reputation of the business. So long as you’ve been told in advance that this kind of surveillance may happen, your boss will probably be able to get away with it.

It’s too early to assess what the full impact of this Act but it’s safe to say that if you’re employed by a public authority, you do have new rights – and if you feel in any way that your boss is ignoring these, you can challenge the position. If you don’t get anywhere, you’ve got the right to go to court. But if you’re an employee of a private company, you’ll need to show you’ve got a right to sue under traditional UK law – like unfair dismissal, sex discrimination or breach of contract – before you can start to argue your human rights. All in all, it’s definitely a step in the right direction – but maybe not as big a step as we’d all hoped for.