Discrimination Laws

Discrimination in the work place can be based upon gender, sexual orientation, marital status, race, ethnic origin, physical disability, religion and age.  If an employee feels that they are being treated differently because of any of the above, and the employer cannot show that the treatment they are giving the employee is not related to any of the above, the employee can claim for discrimination with the Employment Tribunal.

There are two types of Discrimination:

Direct Discrimination – This is when an employee is treated less favorably than other employees due to his/her race/gender etc. An employer may be able to defend this position if they can reasonably argue that being of a particular gender/ race is necessary to fill the requirements of the job.

Indirect Discrimination – This refers to when a requirement, condition, 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 sensible way of achieving a legitimate aim (unconnected with gender, race etc).

An employee can also claim Victimisation and/or Harassment:

Victimisation – This refers to when an employee is treated less favourably because he/she has done something under or by reference to a particular piece of legislation, namely the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976 or the Equal Pay Act 1970.

Harassment – This refers to 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.

Employers have an obligation to their employees to make sure there are set procedures in place to prevent discrimination, and to deal with any complaints that arise because of discrimination. 

If an employee wants to make a claim he/she can send a questionnaire to the employer before starting a claim which asks specific questions about either the employee’s particular circumstances or the employer’s work place generally. The contents of the questionnaire, the answers and if applicable a refusal to answer can all be brought to the Employment Tribunal's attention if and when the claim is submitted.

If an employee decides to submit a claim the Employment Tribunal must receive it 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.

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 the 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 in cases of discrimination.

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