Discrimination in the workplace

There are four main pieces of anti-discrimination legislation to protect the rights of individuals and their employment. These are the Age Discrimination Act, the Race Discrimination Act, the Sex Discrimination Act and the Disability Discrimination Act. In October of 2007 the agencies governing these laws and rights - the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission - merged into one called the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Here is a quick summary of the four acts and how they pertain to employment matters:

• Sex Discrimination Act
• Race Relations Act
• Age Discrimination Act
• Disability Discrimination Act

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The Sex Discrimination Act

The Sex Discrimination Act was created to protect the rights of men and women equally against sexual discrimination, whether this has been achieved is something best left to the media who get to criticise legislation without repercussions or being sued. The language of the act itself does state for the most part the woman's rights and the protection offered but, as stated in the beginning of the act, such is to be interpreted as being the same rights as those afforded to their male counterparts. Please assume the same for the following summary. There are two main types of discrimination - direct and indirect. Direct is where a woman is treated differently than a man based on the sole fact that she is a woman such as the most common notion that a more experienced/qualified woman is passed over for a job in favour of a less experience/qualified man. Indirect discrimination would be where a woman is expected to do work out-with her capabilities just because the male counterparts are doing such work. The Sexual Discrimination Act prohibits the following types of discriminating:

• against a woman (or man) on the grounds of her sex
• against a woman on the grounds that she is married or a civil partner
• against a person on the grounds that that person intends to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone gender reassignment
• on the grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave
• sexual harassment or harassment on the grounds of (or related to) the person's sex

The Act does not prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation as the act was set up to protect gender issues only, but certain circumstances could provide such a claimant with grounds for a claim. You should speak to a solicitor experienced in such to understand the current state of affairs regarding this as there are many other sex discrimination laws and pieces of legislation available to protect the rights of gay men or lesbians.

The Race Relations Act

The Race Relations Act, more commonly referred to as the racial discrimination act, was set up mainly for the purposes of protecting people in employment from being discriminated against based on their colour, nationality, ethnic origins which can take into account their religious beliefs. The definitions of being discriminated against for this act is similar to the others:

• Directly Discriminating such as refusing to hire any particular individual based on race.
• Indirectly Discriminating such as enforcing dress codes that encroach on an individuals religious beliefs
• Harassment such as allowing negative conversations about a person's race in the workplace.
• Victimisation where a person is treated unfavourably due to their race or for the simple fact that they have made a complaint about racial issues at work already.

There are, in our opinion, some grey areas in the act's wording especially regarding "positive action" where employers are encouraged to give special attention to workers from an ethnic group from which there are not many representatives in that particular company. Some say this is positive "discrimination" against individuals of other races working there. But if you feel that you have been passed over for promotion because an employer feels they must promote someone from a smaller represented ethnic group then this is discriminating according to the race discrimination act - confused? Such cases should really be handled by a solicitor that has experience in such cases.

The Age Discrimination Act

The Age Discrimination Act is basically a slightly altered version of gender discrimination in relation to the definitions of the types of discriminating that is unlawful with the following being emphasised as being unlawful on the grounds of age to:

• Refuse you employment
• Terminate your employment without objective justification (unless of retirement age)
• Refuse to give you proper training
• Pass you over for promotion
• Insert adverse terms and conditions into your contract

Like with the gender laws this legislation has tended to be quoted regarding older individuals being turned down or dismissed from working, but this section of law also covers where someone feels harassed or victimised at work based on how young they are perceived to be. For example a young person being constantly put down at work by older staff members who consider themselves more experienced. Obviously employers must be able to expect a level of sensibility regarding these issues, for example a movie producer cannot be sued for refusing to cast a 50 year man in the part of an 18 year old boy even though the refusal is most definitely based on age. Most discrimination law firms in the UK will not take on such frivolous lawsuits as experience will have taught them better.

The Disability Discrimination Act

Although originally written in 1995 has been significantly extended in 2005. The rights explained extend much further than other acts mentioned thus far including:

• Employment - a disabled person cannot be refused employment based on their disability unless that disability precludes them from performing the type of work required.
• Education - which extends not only to the rights of disable children to the same level of education as non-disabled children but also to disabled adults furthering their education.
• Access to goods, facilities and services such as stores, banks, cinemas, churches and public transport.
• Buying or renting land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations.

These discrimination laws cover both physical disabilities as well as any mental disability. As these laws have been in force for such a long time the issue of disabilities, especially in the workplace, has died down considerably as most places of employment are now already adapted for the easy employment of anyone with a disability and the advances in technology have opened the doors wide on what jobs are available to anyone who may have previously been precluded from certain types of employment.

Compensation for Workplace Discrimination

Summary: As you will notice with all these anti-discrimination acts and laws, you do not actually have to be employed and then sacked by someone to pursue a compensation claim for being discriminated against. In all cases the acts provide for the fact that you may originally not even get a job based on your sex, age, race or disabilities. The main issue in such cases, especially in cases where someone has been refused employment in the first place, is proving what the employer was thinking as most times they will not actually state that the reason that you were not given the job was your sex, race, age or disability. Such obstacles are not insurmountable and you will quickly be able to tell if the solicitor you are speaking to can actually help you or not. Check that any lawyers have experience and if they bombard you with legal jargon then they are probably trying to cover up a lack in such experience!

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