Discrimination usually occurs where there is unfair treatment of a person or a group because of some characteristic (or perceived characteristic) of that person or group.

Discrimination may also happen indirectly when it's not aimed at you as an individual, but a rule or policy is applied to everyone but particularly disadvantages a certain group who share a characteristic with you.  Harassment occurs when a person feels intimidated or offended by reason of some characteristic of theirs (or another person).  If you feel you've been subject to less favourable treatment or harassment at work you should contact us immediately on 03700 86 86 86 for legal advice.  

Protected characteristics

In order to suffer discrimination or harassment the treatment you receive must be because of or related to a' protected characteristic'.   These protected characteristics are defined in the Equality Act as: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.  Examples of ways you could suffer discrimination include not being appointed to a job, failing to be promoted, being denied training, being given less favourable terms and conditions of employment, failing to get a benefit e.g. a bonus that your colleagues get or are more harshly disciplined than others.

Prohibited and protected acts

The Equality Act makes it unlawful to do a 'prohibited act' and makes it plain that you need not have a protected characteristic yourself in order to suffer unlawful discrimination.  For example, it is unlawful to discriminate against someone because it's mistakenly thought they have a protected characteristic when in fact they do not (know as perceptive discrimination).   It's also unlawful to discriminate against someone because they associate with a person who does have a protected characteristic (known as associative discrimination). The law defines what constitutes a prohibited act, such as:

• Direct discrimination – is when the reason for the unfavourable treatment is because of a protected characteristic.  This includes perceptive discrimination and associative discrimination.

• Indirect discrimination – is where a seemingly neutral policy or requirement applies to everyone but disadvantages a group with a particular protected characteristic.

• Harassment – is unwanted conduct that may be related to a protected characteristic which has the aim or effect of violating a person's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.  Harassment in this context may be suffered a result of conduct by other employees or third parties who are not employees.

• Sexual harassment – is unwanted conduct as indicated above, but of a sexual nature.

• Victimisation – is when someone suffers a detriment or less favourable treatment because they have done, or are suspected of doing, what's called a 'protected act'. A protected act includes things like complaining about discrimination, bringing legal proceedings for discrimination and giving evidence or information on behalf of others complaining of discrimination.

Equality, diversity and equal opportunities policies

Your employer should have an equality and diversity or an equal opportunities policy that will normally be referred to in your contract of employment or staff handbook. You should read your employer's procedure where it is available.  Any employer's equality and diversity or equal opportunities policy should explain what constitutes unlawful discrimination and harassment so that you can understand what constitutes unacceptable behaviour in the workplace. It is good practice for employers to consider diversity and they should strive to provide a workplace that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience and different cultural perspectives that constitute 21st century British society. The law does not make it mandatory for an employer to provide equalities training for all their staff, but it's certainly good practice for larger employers to do so. 

Your employer's obligations

All complaints about discrimination in the course of employment must be taken extremely seriously by your employer.  Any form of discrimination in the workplace is totally unacceptable and disciplinary action up to and including dismissal should be taken where an employee (no matter how junior or senior)  is found to have breached any policy or is found to have discriminated against you.  Your employer should monitor the effectiveness of their equality and diversity policy and may ask employees to co-operate with diversity monitoring.   All opportunities such as promotion should be awarded based on merit alone and any appointment process should be fair and transparent.   Every member of staff is entitled to fair and equal treatment regardless of any protected characteristic they have.  However, where a member of staff is disabled they are entitled to any special treatment that may assist them in the workplace (sometimes known as reasonable adjustments).   Non-disabled staff cannot bring claims based on not receiving any special treatment given to disabled colleagues.

Making a complaint

If you feel you've been discriminated against or harassed on any of the protected grounds you should first refer to your contract of employment and staff manual which should outline the procedure for making a complaint (the grievance procedure).  If there is no procedure in place, then speak to your line manager or human resources department or the owner if it is a small business.  Make sure you confirm your complaint in writing.  Your employer is legally obliged to address or resolve your complaint about discrimination in a timely manner:

• Informal resolution - you may be encouraged to resolve any problems on an informal basis at first.   If such attempts fail to resolve the matter satisfactorily, or you simply prefer not to discuss these things informally, you should set out your complaint in writing. This should contain as much detail as possible and be sent to your employer.  You should then be invited to attend a formal meeting to discuss the grievance.  You have the right to be accompanied at that meeting.

• Formal meeting - should be arranged in a timely fashion that gives your employer a reasonable opportunity to investigate the matter and respond to your complaint.  After the meeting your employer should respond to the complaint and notify you of your right of appeal if you are not satisfied with their decision.

• Appeal - if you are not satisfied with the decision you may wish to appeal. Your letter of appeal should set out the grounds on which the appeal is being made and you should then be invited to attend a further formal meeting.  You must take all reasonable steps to attend that meeting.  After the appeal meeting you will be informed of the final decision.  If you are still not satisfied with the outcome you then have the option of taking a claim to the Employment Tribunal. 

Contact Us

If you need advice about how to make a complaint or feel you've been the victim of discrimination in the workplace, call our helpline on 03700 86 86 86 or contact us online.  Calls cost no more than a national rate 01 or 02 number and the helpline is available seven days a week:  Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm, Saturday 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm.