People often suffer workplace discrimination in relation to a protected characteristic. The Equality Act 2010 sets out nine protected characteristics. This means that its illegal for you to be discriminated against based on:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage or Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and Maternity
- Race
- Religion or Belief
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
Unfortunately, people often suffer workplace bullying, harassment, and unfavourable treatment in relation to these protected characteristics. Examples of unlawful discrimination in the workplace include:
- Unequal pay: where someone is paid less than others doing the same work on the basis of a protected characteristic; commonly where women are paid less than men doing the same job.
- Unfair rules: such as where followers of one religion might be allowed to wear symbols of their faith while another group isn’t.
- Age discrimination: such as when a worker over the age of 50 is selected for redundancy in preference to a younger worker with less experience and ability.
- Maternity discrimination: whereby a pregnant employee is dismissed for poor attendance due to her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, there are many other examples of discriminatory practices in the workplace. If you feel that you have been treated unfairly at work due to age, sex, race, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, gender reassignment, religion or beliefs, you may have a case for discrimination against your employer.
