Tackling discrimination

What is discrimination?

Discrimination happens when an employer treats one employee less favourably than others. It could mean a female employee being paid less than a male colleague for doing the same job, or minority ethnic employee being refused the training opportunities offered to white colleagues.

There are specific laws against some types of discrimination (called 'unlawful discrimination'). If an employer treats someone less favourably for an unlawful reason, they may have action taken against them, if an employer treats someone unfairly for any other reason, this is not unlawful discrimination

Why tackle discrimination?

The workforce and working patterns are changing. The working population is getting older and there are more women and people from ethnic minorities at work.

Everyone has the right to be treated fairly at work and to be free of discrimination on grounds of age, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

Employers who treat employees fairly and flexibly will be best placed to recruit and retain staff in an increasingly diverse and competitive labour market.

Many employers have found that making adaptations to their working practices to accommodate a diverse workforce makes good business sense. It makes their business more attractive to both potential employees and customers and helps them recruit and retain the best people. This is not only good business sense but helps them meet the requirements of legislation.

Some provisions that have helped in this respect are:

• extended leave;
• religious holidays;
• adaptation to hours of work;
• reasonable adjustments as required by the Disability Discrimination Act.

Health and safety should never be used as a false excuse to justify discriminatory action.

There is a lot of advice available to employers which helps to dispel some of the myths around health and safety in the workplace. For further information please see our pages on vulnerable workers and HSE guidance on risk assessments.

Remember

Employers should make sure they communicate messages about risk in a way that their employees understand. Some things to think about are language, use of pictures, colour, font sizes or format.  

If you have any queries about the above please contact us at diversity@hse.gsi.gov.uk