Discrimination Issues

Under the Equality Act 2010 there are now certain protected characteristics which are covered by the legislation.  They include sex, pregnancy and maternity leave, gender reassignment, marital and civil partnerships status, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, disability and age.  We can give you advice on all aspects of discrimination from recruitment right through to working with the protected groups in the workplace.

We strongly advise that you have policies in place to protect you and your employees against any form of discrimination.  The discrimination that can take place in the workplace is now being expanded under the Equality Act to include sociative discrimination (treating a person less favourably due to his association with someone with a protective characteristic) and perceptive discrimination (treating a person less favourably because he is perceived to have a protected characteristic).  Discrimination law is complex and again there can be many pitfalls for an employer.  If you have any issues about this then we strongly advise that you contact us to assist guiding you through non-discriminatory policies and procedures practices in your workplace.

For example in relation to disability discrimination, you must be very careful that you do not apply a provision, a criterion or a practice to a disabled person which would put them at a particular advantage when compared with persons that do not have that disability or, specifically would put them at a disadvantage and it is not a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.  This can be complicated and if you are at all unsure about a practice or provision that you have in your workplace please contact us for advice on this.