Positive Action in the Workplace
Employers are under a legal duty not to discriminate against prospective or existing employees, either negatively or positively. However, that is not to say employers cannot take ‘positive action’ to assist certain groups of people that are potentially at a disadvantage or under-represented within their workforce. In this article we examine what amounts to taking […]
Mental Health Discrimination at Work
By understanding your responsibilities as an employer in relation to the mental health of your workforce, you can help provide support to your workforce, and avoid costly mistakes by treating someone unfairly because of their condition. In this guide for employers, we examine the issue of mental health discrimination at work, from how this can […]
Failure to Make Reasonable Adjustments
A failure to make reasonable adjustments refers to a breach of the employer’s duty to ensure that workers and applicants are not substantially disadvantaged in carrying out or applying for a job because of a disability when compared with people who do not have a disability. This is a statutory duty that most employers are […]
Objective Justification (Discrimination Defence?)
As an employer, you are under a duty not to discriminate unlawfully against any member of staff, or even against a prospective job applicant. That said, there are some circumstances in which you may have a good enough reason for treating someone less favourably, or causing a particular group of people a disadvantage. This potential […]
Associative Discrimination (Advice For Employers)
By law, you should not treat any member of staff or job applicant unfairly by reason of a protected characteristic, such as their age, gender, a disability, race or religion. This includes not treating them unfairly because of any association with another individual who possesses one of these, or any other, protected characteristic. The following […]
Automatically Unfair Dismissal
It is a common misconception that an employee can be dismissed without the need to provide a fair reason and follow a fair process, as long as they have not yet accrued two years’ continuous service with their employer. On the contrary, however, there are certain circumstances in which a dismissal may be classed as […]
Redundancy When Pregnant: Fair Dismissal?
According to studies conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, it is estimated that over 50,000 women could be losing their jobs each year because of pregnancy or maternity – and this was prior to the pandemic. With reports that the number of women seeking […]
