New laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace on grounds of sexual orientation or religion come into force this week. The Sexual Orientation regulations became law yesterday, while the Religion or Belief regulations come into force today.

According to Jacqui Smith, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality: "People should not be denied jobs, suffer victimisation or harassment, because of prejudice.

"It is also damaging for businesses as they deny themselves access to the widest pool of talent. A diverse workforce brings benefits such as increased motivation, lower turnover of staff, and access to wider markets."

The regulations implement strands of the European Employ-ment Directive which outlaws discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability and age in employment and vocational training. Amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 implementing the Directive will come into force in October 2004 with new legislation outlawing discrimination on grounds of age by the end of 2006 and will apply to all employers and businesses, whatever their size.

Christine Fleetwood, chairwoman of Swindon's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Coalition (LGBT) said: "We welcome this change in the law. It's about time everyone was given the same opportunities.

"We hope that Swindon employers will take this stance on board. But if anybody knows of an employer who isn't, they should contact the council."

However, Ms Fleetwood added that since the setting up of the LGBT last year, it had so far received no complaints about discriminatory employers.

Employers concerned about the implications of these laws can assess how they will affect the running of their companies by checking out the Advisory Concil-iation and Arbitration Service website www.acas.org.

It includes answers to the following questions :

Do organisations have to do anything new or different when the legislation comes in?

Do organisations have to collect data on sexual orientation?

How will an organisation know if it is discriminating inadvertently?

What about transgender people?

Should organisations introduce positive action programmes on sexual orientation?

There are more details on an easy-to-use guide at www.workSMART. org.uk, the TUC's working life website.