Discrimination at work

It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against someone because of age. This area of discrimination law can be particularly relevant in relation to:

• Recruitment
• Promotion
• Pay settlements

If you feel you’ve been treated unfairly because of your age, you could be entitled to compensation. This could be when any of the following occurs:

• Stereotyping people of a certain age.
• Making someone redundant because of his or her age.
• Harassing or victimising someone at work because of his or her age.
• Compulsorily retiring someone because of their age, unless it can be objectively justified.
• Requiring a minimum number of years’ experience for a job where this is not necessary.

Sex discrimination can occur in all aspects of the workplace. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Recruitment.
• Selection for promotion and training.
• Pay and bonuses.

The Equality Act 2010 prevents discrimination in the workplace because of your sex, amongst other forms of discrimination. This includes cases involving sexual harassment at work.

Discrimination based on your sex can also occur if you feel you are disadvantaged because of an unjustified requirement or practice. For example, employers who require full-time or long hours can disadvantage women, as many women are still primarily responsible for childcare.

We can represent women in court who want to negotiate part-time and flexible hours and obtain compensation if their requests are unreasonably refused.

It is unlawful for an employer or service provider to treat someone less favourably because of a disability or if something arises as a result of disability.

Employers and service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people have the same access to everything as a non-disabled person.

If you have been discriminated against because of your disability we can advise and support you. Our expert team can provide disability discrimination advice on:

• Employer’s obligations when individuals return to work after suffering life-changing injuries.
• Companies failing to make reasonable adjustments to allow a disabled person to access their services.
• Workplaces not employing someone because of their disability, even though they are the best fit for the role.
• Employers unfairly dismissing someone because of their disability.
• An employee who has faced harassment at work due to their disability.

It is unlawful in many contexts, including in the workplace, in education, and in the provision of services, to treat someone less favourably because they have undergone, are undergoing, or are proposing to undergo a process (or part of a process) of ‘gender reassignment’.

Gender reassignment is an individual process and a person who transitions socially, without undergoing any physiological changes or being under any medical supervision, would be protected under the Equality Act 2010.

We have extensive experience of advising on gender identity-related discrimination issues and can support you on various cases, including if you have been:

• Treated less favourably because you were absent from work because of a transition-related reason.
• Unfairly dismissed because your partner or someone else close to you is a trans person.
• Subjected to transphobic harassment by an employer or service provider.
• Faced with a detriment because you complained to an employer or service provider about an act of gender identity-related discrimination or transphobic harassment. This type of claim is known as victimisation.

As well as advising people whose gender identity is within the binary of men and women, our team also has experience of providing advice on discrimination issues affecting people who have a non-binary gender identity.

It is against the law for an employer to treat a woman unfavourably because she is pregnant, has a pregnancy-related illness, is on maternity leave or has taken maternity leave.

Common examples of discrimination include:

• Not offering the same training or promotion opportunities to a woman because she is pregnant or on maternity leave.
• Treating a woman unfavourably because she has a pregnancy-related illness.
• Dismissing a woman on maternity leave shortly before she is due to return to work (or after she returns) and keeping the person covering her maternity leave on instead.
• Making a woman redundant because she is pregnant, or for reasons related to her maternity leave.

Our lawyers can provide discrimination advice for employees about issues that arise during pregnancy and maternity leave, such as:

• Illness
• Pay and conditions
• Redundancy
• Promotion and training
• Return to work, including flexible and part-time working

Being treated differently because of your race is also covered under the Equality Act 2010. This includes discrimination because of your colour, nationality, or ethnic/national origin.

We can represent you if you are discriminated against at work because of your race. This includes cases involving:

• A company favouring an employee of a particular nationality.
• A worker subjected to harassment because of race.
• An individual forced to work in an environment where racist jokes are made.

This also includes race discrimination in relation to recruitment, selection for promotion, training and in pay discussions.

If you are treated unfairly because of your religion or beliefs – or lack thereof – at work, you can take action.

Our specialist team of discrimination solicitors represent clients who are discriminated against because of their religion or beliefs. This includes:

• Religions that are extensively recognised in the UK.
• Wider concept of beliefs – such as philosophical beliefs.
• Lack of religion or belief.

We have successfully brought and settled claims relating to religion and belief discrimination in the workplace. These include:

• A company favouring an employee of a particular religion.
• A worker not allowed to pray without justification.
• An individual forced to work in an environment where jokes about their belief were made.

You should not face discrimination or harassment at work because of your sexual orientation. This includes in recruitment, selection for promotion and training and around pay.

Our specialist team of discrimination lawyers can act on your behalf to secure compensation and an apology from colleagues or employers who discriminated against you because of your sexual orientation. This includes discrimination claims for:

• Stereotyping, such as making assumptions about how gay people behave, for example, not employing a gay man at a childcare centre because it’s assumed children’s safety will be compromised.
• Appointing or promoting a person because of their sexual orientation. This includes whether it’s due to a conscious or unconscious preference or prejudice.
• Working in an environment where homophobic jokes are made or being subjected to name-calling relating to your sexual orientation.
• Marriage and civil partnership discrimination