This should normally be referred to in your contract of employment or staff handbook. You must read your employer's procedure where it is available. Below we have provided information on discrimination and general good practice for an employer to follow.   

Your employer must provide a workplace that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience and different cultural perspectives available in Britain's 21st century society.

The purpose of any employer policy should be to:

• explain what constitutes unlawful discrimination and harassment so that you can understand what constitutes unacceptable behaviour in the workplace
• ensure that your employer provides equal employment opportunities for all at all stages of employment
• set out how you can get redress if you feel that a policy is not being complied with

Your employer's obligations

Your employer must be committed to providing equality for everyone in their workplace and all applicants for employment. This means equality of opportunity for all at every stage of the employment relationship with them from selection for employment and promotion, access to benefits and training through to termination. 

All employees should have an equal chance of advancement, access to opportunity, and the necessary training and to feel valued and respected. All staff are entitled to fair and equal treatment regardless of their sex, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief or age.

Your employer must ensure that their workplace is free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. It should be part of their policy to employ and provide a suitable environment for people with disabilities. Where possible, all reasonable facilities should be provided for employees with disabilities to pursue their careers without difficulty or disadvantage. 

What is unlawful discrimination?

Individuals are protected under the law against discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of their:

• sex
• marital status
• race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin
• disability
• sexual orientation
• religion or belief
• or age
• (together these are referred to as the 'protected grounds')

Discrimination means less favourable treatment because of one of the protected grounds when compared with someone who does not share the protected ground. 

Discrimination may also happen indirectly so that treatment which appears to be neutral because it applies to everyone disadvantages a particular group.

Harassment means unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.

Examples of harassment

Harassment may be physical or verbal and can involve a large or a small number of people.

• Harassment on the grounds of sex could include: unwanted sexual advances, explicit derogatory statements or sexual discriminatory remarks which are offensive to the person involved and which cause the person to feel embarrassed, threatened, patronised or harassed. The unwanted behaviour does not have to relate to the person's sex but also the sex of another person. This can include offence caused by sexist remarks about another person. 
• Harassment on the grounds of race could include: remarks, jokes, derogatory comments, deliberate abuse, wearing of offensive badges or insignia, offensive publications, insulting behaviour or gestures. Some apparently trivial incidents repeated over time can create an unpleasant, intimidating or frightening atmosphere.
• Harassment on the grounds of age could include: teasing, name calling and the telling of ageist jokes. The behaviour does not have to be targeted at a specific individual for it to be harassment, nor does it have to relate to the individual's own age. Ageist remarks can have an effect on an individual even if the remarks are general or relate to a different age group. It is the effect on the individual that is important not whether the action is intended to cause distress.

It is the view of the recipient or the observer of an incident which determines what is acceptable behaviour and it is the impact of the conduct and not the intention of the perpetrator which determines what constitutes harassment. It must never be assumed that because someone does not object to certain language or behaviour it means they consent to it.

Where there are few people from culturally diverse groups in the workplace, the harassment may be perceived as worse because of the isolation of those persons.

Your colleagues must be sensitive to the effect that their words or actions may have on others. The extent of the effect is frequently underestimated; it can lead to extreme stress and ill health.

Responsibility of staff and managers 

All staff within your employer should familiarise themselves with any diversity policy and adhere to it strictly.  It is the responsibility of every manager to ensure that this policy is implemented. 

If you feel that a policy has not been followed and you believe that you may have suffered discrimination or harassment you should draw this to the attention of your line manager, in the first instance.  If the matter is not resolved satisfactorily you should raise a grievance through your employer's formal grievance procedure. 

All complaints about discrimination and harassment in the course of employment must be taken extremely seriously by your employer.

Any form of discrimination in the workplace must be totally unacceptable and disciplinary action up to and including dismissal must be taken by your employer where an employee is found to have breached any policy or is found to have discriminated against you.

Monitoring

Your employer should monitor the effectiveness of their equality and diversity policy and may ask employees to co-operate with diversity monitoring. 

Conclusion

Your employer is under a duty to promote equality of opportunity and prevent unlawful discrimination.

For further information regarding how we can help with bullying at work, please visit our page.

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All documents should be read and used in accordance with the terms and conditions. This document is for your general information only and is not a detailed statement of the law. It is provided to you free of charge and should not be used as a substitute for specific legal advice. If you require specific legal advice please contact our helpline on 03700 86 86 86.

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