• Sex
• Pregnancy
• Status as a married person or civil partner
• Gender reassignment
• Race
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Age

These are often referred to as the different strands of discrimination law. While the law in relation to each strand is very similar, there important differences.

Discrimination law protects a wide range of individuals within the field of employment occupation and vocational training.

It is unlawful for an employer to;

• Discriminate directly by treating another person less favourably than others because of one of above criteria where this cannot be justified.
• Discriminate indirectly by applying provision, criteria or practice that discriminates people of protected criteria where this cannot be objectively justified.
• Subject someone to reassignment on grounds of protected criteria.
• Victimise someone because they have made or intend to make a complaint or allegation or have given evidence against someone else in relation to a complaint of protected criteria.

The general principle is that the employer must not discriminate against an employee in any of the following ways:

• In the terms of employment offered. This makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate in the contractual terms of employment, whether they be express or implied.
• In the way he affords him access to opportunities for promotion, transfer or training, or by deliberately denying him such opportunities. Employers should be aware that internal promotion poses a risk of unlawful discrimination as often it involves a large aspect of subjective managerial assessment.
• In the way he affords him access to any other benefits, facilities or services or by deliberately denying him access to such benefits. This includes pay, mobility, holiday, pension, and other fringe benefits such as opportunities to work overtime. It can also relate to a failure to deal with an employee's grievance adequately or dealing with an employee's grievance but with an unreasonable amount of delay.
• By dismissing him. This includes termination of a contract by the employer (with or without notice) and non renewal or expiry of a fixed term. Criteria used for dismissal, including in selection for redundancies, must not be indirectly discriminatory.
• By subjecting him to any other detriment. "Subject to detriment" means no more than that the employee might take the view that he has been disadvantaged in the circumstances in which he has to work although the disadvantage must amount to something more than an unjustified sense of grievance
• By subjecting him to harassment

Post-termination discrimination

The law makes it unlawful, in respect of former workers and employees to:

• Discriminate against another person on grounds of race or ethnic of national origins by subjecting them to detriment; or
• Subject them to harassment,

Where the discrimination arises out of and is closely connected to the relationship that has ended.

Please use the menus on the left to navigate through the discrimination topics. If you would like to speak to a member of our team please call 01562 514 867, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact us using the contacts page of our website.