Employee Discrimination

Employee Discrimination Solicitor

Discrimination is a serious issue in the employment environment. If you feel you have been discriminated against at work and unfairly treated then speak to one of specialist Employment Solicitors who can help you determine whether you can do anything about it.

If you’re being treated differently to others at work, you may have a claim for unlawful discrimination at work.  UK law protects people who are treated badly at work because of one, or more, of the following characteristics:

• Sex 
• Sexual orientation.
• Race
• Disability
• Pregnancy and/or maternity
• Religion or belief
• Marital status
• Gender reassignment – this might apply if you are treated less favourably because you are in the process of changing from one gender to another, or if you have had your gender changed
• Age – for example, younger workers are able to make a claim for age discrimination, if they are being treated less favourably than more mature members of the workforce. 

Although covered by different legislation, it is also unlawful to treat workers less favourably because they:

• work part-time;
• are on a fixed-term contract; or
• are members of (or otherwise involved with) a trade union.

What are the different types of discrimination?

There are four main types of discrimination.

• Direct discrimination – This is the type of discrimination most people will face. If a person is intentionally treated less favourably purely based on the fact that they possess one or more of their protected characteristics, then it is direct discrimination.
• Indirect discrimination – indirect discrimination is when there’s a practice, policy or rule which applies to everyone in the same way, but it has a worse effect on some people than others. The Equality Act says it puts you at a particular disadvantage.
• Harassment – This is an unwanted, offensive, humiliating and intimidation act directed at you because of your age, disability, gender, race, sexual orientation or religion. Harassment can be in the form of gestures, spoken or written words, images or jokes.
• Victimisation - Victimisation involved being penalised for having previously taken an action under discrimination legislation. This can be to assert your own rights or to help a colleague do so. An example would be sacking an employee (or taking any other action against them) because they brought a grievance about sexist bullying.

How can we help

There are four main types of discrimination.

Our dedicated team of workplace discrimination solicitors can assist you with bringing a discrimination claim in the Employment Tribunal, in particular they can:

• Advise you on the initial process of making a complaint to your employer and your employment rights
• Liaise and negotiate with your employer with regards settlement of any discrimination claim
• Draft and initiate legal proceedings in the Employment Tribunal and represent you throughout those proceedings

We treat everyone we represent equally. That means that you’ll receive exactly the same service as any other client when it comes to your discrimination at work claim. If you require advice and assistance in relation to an Employment Law issue relating to Discrimination in the workplace, please contact us.