The 4 Types of Discrimination

The 4 Types of Discrimination

What every employer needs to know

The word ‘discrimination’ is often used on a day to day basis to describe being treated unfairly for a particular reason.

But unlawful discrimination happens when less favourable or unfair treatment relates to specific characteristics, known legally as ‘protected characteristics’. The UK have nine protected characteristics, which are set out in the Equality Act 2010.

There is no minimum length of service required for workers to be able to bring a claim for unlawful discrimination. For employers, this means that a claim for discrimination can be made in respect of a job advert, throughout employment, up to job references for ex-employees, and beyond.

In this HR webinar recording, we introduce the protected characteristics and the four main types of discrimination to help you as an employer to understand how it can occur. You should feel better equipped to hold an informed conversation about the subject and hopefully better able to consider how to prevent it in the first place. We will also take a brief look at when it is possible for discrimination to be lawful.

What we will cover:

– The protected characteristics
– Direct discrimination
– Indirect discrimination
– Harassment
– Victimisation
– Vicarious liability
– Lawful discrimination.