If you feel you have, or are, being discriminated against at work, you do not have to simply accept it, and ‘put up or shut up’. You are protected from workplace discrimination by the full force of the law.
Employer discrimination is a difficult area of the law to traverse though, and you need legal assistance to protect your interests. At Pearl Lemon Legal, our discrimination lawyer team are here to support, advise, and assist you when you file a claim for compensation due to discrimination against your employer.
How Can Pearl Lemon Legal Help?
People frequently experience discrimination at work based on a protected characteristic. Our knowledgeable discrimination lawyers are here to assist those experiencing discrimination based on any of the following (and more)
Racial Discrimination
The Equality Act of 2010 forbids employers from treating any employee differently on the basis of their race, nationality, ethnic origin, or colour of skin. This discrimination can take many different forms, such as colleagues making racial remarks to you, about you, or even just within earshot while you’re at work, or employers denying highly qualified candidates an interview because of their race or nationality.
Even though this kind of behaviour is wholly inappropriate, and completely illegal, it unfortunately still occurs in some settings. Speak to one of our understanding and skilled employment discrimination solicitors right away if you think you’ve been the victim of racial discrimination in the workplace, either while you were an employee or during the hiring process.
Race discrimination in the workplace is one of four types of discrimination that are covered by the Equality Act 2010:
- Direct discrimination: This occurs when you are treated less favourably than someone who is or might be of a different race. This could occur during the hiring process when you are subjected to discrimination and are denied an interview because of a name that sounds foreign on your application, possibly because an employer fears that you won’t fit in with the current workforce.
- Indirect discrimination: This can occur when policies that apply to all employees inadvertently exclude members of particular ethnic groups, such as if beards are prohibited, unless there is a legitimate business need for this policy.
- Victimization: This refers to when you get unfavourable treatment as a result of complaining about racial discrimination in the workplace, such as racist remarks, attitudes, or stereotypes related to your ethnicity or nationality, or because you stood by someone else who did.
- Harassment: This occurs when you experience unwelcome racial behaviour that violates your dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, demeaning, embarrassing, or insulting atmosphere.
We can assist you if you feel that you have experienced discrimination on the basis of your race, nationality, ethnic origin, or colour. Speak with one of our knowledgeable solicitors about racial discrimination right away by contacting us today.
Age Discrimination
The Equality Act of 2010 is a potent tool for combating discrimination in all of its manifestations, including age-based prejudice. Even though it is illegal to discriminate against people based on their age in any situation, including when applying for a mortgage or using public transportation, age discrimination occurs most frequently in regards to employment and on the job.
It’s possible that if you’re an older employee, you’ll be unfairly passed over for a promotion or unfairly chosen for redundancy. You could encounter age discrimination at work if you’re among the youngest employees, since you’re viewed as being too inexperienced simply based on your birthday.
In the hiring process, age discrimination can also be a factor. Older workers, in particular, frequently feel that their demonstrated skills and experience have been disregarded and that they were passed over for a position merely because they were over 50.
If you feel that you have been treated less favorably because of your age, you should talk to one of our skilled discrimination lawyers about fighting any discriminatory behavior, especially if it is harming your chances of advancement or the probability that you will be laid off.
If this has happened to you, you have just three months, plus or minus one day, from the date of the last discriminatory act to start the early conciliation process with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Therefore, time is of the essence.
This is because before filing a tribunal claim, you must first complete early conciliation, which offers ACAS the opportunity to determine if your employer will agree to settle your case without the need for a tribunal claim.
You will have at least one more month to prepare your tribunal claim after this, which might take up to a month. If ACAS’s efforts at conciliation are unsuccessful, we might then be able to bring a claim on your behalf before an Employment Tribunal. However, the faster you contact us the better.
Disability Discrimination
You can’t be treated differently at work because of a disability, according to the Equality Act 2010. Although you may believe that this only applies to people with severe physical impairments like paraplegia, the Equality Act 2010 protects you from all types of disability discrimination, including mental health conditions like chronic depression, stress, and anxiety.
In reality, the Equality Act 2010 may protect your disability as one of the nine protected characteristics if you have a condition that significantly limits your capacity to perform daily tasks and that has lasted or is expected to remain for 12 months or more.
Unfortunately, there are many different ways that people with disabilities are discriminated against, according to our disability discrimination solicitors. These may consist of:
- Unjustly being chosen for redundancy due to a disability
- Being dismissed due to a handicap, possibly as a result of punctuality problems that are specifically linked to your impairment
- Insulting remarks regarding your disability that are disregarded or handled ineffectively by your employer
- Refusal of your employer to grant a request for a workplace modification that would be appropriate
- Inability or unwillingness of your employer to accommodate a request for flexible working, such as one that would allow you to avoid rush hour crowds on public transportation, and make your commute to and from work more tolerable.
The Equality Act 2010 and our skilled and sympathetic legal team are on your side if you have been dismissed from your employment or subjected to discrimination because of physical or mental health disabilities. Contact us today to discuss your case.
Religious Discrimination
The Equality Act 2010 forbids any employer or co-worker from treating you unfairly because of your faith, religion, or any honestly held philosophical beliefs. This discrimination can take many different forms, from employers turning down qualified applicants for interviews only on the basis of their religion or other beliefs to co-workers making fun of or abusing you because of your faith.
It’s important to note that the Equality Act 2010 doesn’t restrict its protection of religion or belief to only organised faiths or popular views.
Similar to how it is illegal to discriminate against someone because they are Christian, Muslim, Sikh, or Jew, it is equally possible to discriminate against someone because they are a vegan, Wiccan, or Atheist. The belief must be convincing, serious, and pertain to a significant part of human behaviour or life.
This means that the only requirement for whether your religion, creed, or belief qualifies for protection under the law against discrimination is that it be truly believed and deserving of respect in a democratic society.
Once again however, this is a complex legal issue that is often best handled by legal experts at every turn, which is why should you believe you have been discriminated against on the grounds of your beliefs you should contact our discrimination solicitors as soon as possible after the events occur.
Sex Discrimination
The Equality Act 2010 forbids employers from discriminating against any employee based solely on their sex. While you might assume that this simply means a woman can’t be paid less than a man for performing essentially the same job, the reality is that men are frequently the target of sex-based workplace discrimination; sometimes because while maternity leave is accepted, paternity leave is discouraged or frowned upon.
While discrimination on the basis of sex is illegal in all its forms, it can be broadly divided into several different types, each of which has its own issues:
Direct discrimination: This occurs, for example, when a man is treated unfairly during the hiring process because the employer feels that he wouldn’t fit in with a workforce that is dominated by women or that the job requires more sensitivity than a man can offer, such as working in a care facility, or when a female applicant is not considered for a position in a workforce that is dominated by men.
Indirect discrimination: This may occur as a result of practices or customs that are applied equally to both sexes but have a disproportionately negative impact on one or the other. For instance, if a business exclusively offers full-time positions, this may be discriminatory toward women, who are more likely than men to be caring for school-age children and desire part-time or flexible employment.
Victimization: This can occur after you file a complaint regarding sex discrimination at work, such as when you protest about not being given flexible hours to help with the school run or when you complain about sexist attitudes at work.
Sexual harassment: This is when you are the target of inappropriate remarks, insinuation, or verbal or physical sexual harassment. It can happen to both sexes. Naturally, this can place you in a very distressing situation, and your employer has a responsibility to respond right away when this kind of harassment occurs.
Sexual Orientation Discrimination
The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 were amalgamated with more than 100 other anti-discrimination laws in the Equality Act 2010. This Act is a potent tool for combating discrimination in all of its forms, including bias based on actual or perceived sexual orientation. Unfair discrimination is never acceptable, but it can be especially harmful in the workplace.
That is why, if you feel that you have received unfair treatment at work because of your sexual orientation or suspected sexual orientation, our skilled discrimination solicitors are here to assist you. If you believe that you were subjected to discrimination for the same reasons throughout the hiring process, we might be able to assist you as well.
Your sexual orientation may be the basis for discrimination and other unjust treatment, which may be overtly expressed as “banter” or quite covert. You might have a line manager who is courteous to you in person but keeps you out of meetings and doesn’t consider you for promotions. Even if you’re in a same-sex marriage, you might discover that you aren’t eligible for parental leave while others are granted it.
Alternatively, you might be a highly qualified candidate who discovers that you didn’t get a second interview for a job before learning that someone with significantly less experience was hired in your place.
We take your claim of discrimination very seriously because, whether it is subtle or overt, discrimination is still discrimination.
Sadly, there are a lot more instances of discriminatory behaviour in the workplace. You may have a case for discrimination against your employer if you believe that you were treated unfairly at work because of your age, sex, race, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, gender reassignment, religion, or beliefs. To consult with a sensitive and knowledgeable discrimination lawyer, contact Pearl Lemon Legal today.
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