Acas guidance
Same-sex couples who register as civil partners or who marry have mostly the same employment rights as married opposite-sex couples, explains conciliation service Acas.
New guidance on marriage and civil partnership discrimination by Acas outlines that the 2010 Equality Act protects employees who are in a civil partnership or marriage against discrimination and that recruitment and selection policies must not discriminate on the grounds of civil partnerships, marriage or sexual orientation.
Employers should ensure they have policies in place which are designed to prevent discrimination in a number of areas. This might include pay, being allowed to work flexibly, parental leave, paternity leave, shared parental leave, adoption leave and extra days off when an employee marries or enters a civil partnership.