Discrimination Law

Discrimination Law has recently been overhauled with the introduction of the Equality Act 2010. This Act has effectively brought all previous legislation together under one umbrella, but the main elements of the law remain the same.

What types of Discrimination are there?

Discrimination can only be based upon gender, sexual orientation, marital status, race, ethnic origin, physical disability, religion and age.

If you feel that you are being treated differently because of any of the above factors and your employer cannot show that the treatment is unrelated to that factor, it may be possible for you to claim discrimination in an Employment Tribunal.  Contact us today for advice.

Preventing discrimination

Your employer has an obligation to its employees to make sure there are set procedures in place to prevent discrimination in the work place and should deal with any complaints that arise because of discrimination.

Manner of Discrimination

There are different ways of discriminating against someone:

Direct Discrimination

This is when an employee is treated less favourably than other employees because of a specific factor, such as –

• Race
• Gender/Sex
• Disability
• Age

Indirect Discrimination

This is when a provision, criterion or practice is applied in the workplace such that the proportion of one sex or race etc, who cannot comply with it, is considerably smaller than the proportion of the opposite sex, other races etc., who can comply. There is a defence where the requirement etc can be ‘justified’ by the employer as a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim (unconnected with gender, race etc).

Discrimination by Association

This is direct discrimination against an employee because he/she associates with someone who connects with a specific factor.

Discrimination by Perception

This is direct discrimination against an employee because others think he/she connects with a factor.

Victimisation

This is when an employee is treated less favourably because he/she has done something under or by reference to a particular piece of legislation, such as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976 and most recently the Equality Act 2010.

Harassment

This is when a person, on the basis of his/her sex, race etc. is subjected to unwanted conduct, which violates his/her dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him/her. It covers verbal, non-verbal and physical conduct.

Third Party Harassment

This is when harassment (outlined above) is carried out by a third party, e.g. a customer or client against an employee. However this type of discrimination can only be pursued if harassment has occurred at least twice, the employee has made his/her employer aware of it and no reasonable steps were taken by the employer to prevent it occurring again.

Submitting a claim

If you decide to submit a claim, there is no need to have been employed for a specific length of time. However an Employment Tribunal must receive the claim within 3 months minus one day from the date of the last act of discrimination. For example, if an employer makes a racist comment to an employee of ethnic origin, then the date that comment was made would be the last act of discrimination for the purposes of starting a claim. The deadline would be 3 months minus one day from that date.

In some cases, an employee may be relying on a series of acts which is called a continuing act of discrimination. In this situation the deadline would run from the last in the series of those acts.

What if my claim is successful?

If a discrimination case is successful the most common remedy is an award of compensation. There is no cap upon the compensation that can be ordered by an Employment Tribunal and it can include an element to cover injury to feelings and, occasionally, if the employee suffered psychological injury, damages for Personal Injury. The damages can also be increased if the employer's behaviour was insulting or malicious ("aggravated damages").

Tribunals can also make recommendations for improvements in the employer's policies and systems, although these are unusual.

Please note that the above information is for guidance only. For full tailored advice on Discrimination law and how it could apply to you.  

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