How to Identify Indirect Discrimination in the Workplace
How to Identify Indirect Discrimination in the Workplace
Discrimination
Peninsula Group, HR and Health & Safety Experts
(Last updated )
Peninsula Group, HR and Health & Safety Experts
(Last updated )
Indirect discrimination occurs when you disadvantage employees with a protected characteristic. Find out how to avoid doing this to promote business fairness.
Loading content...
How to Identify Indirect Discrimination in the Workplace
FAQs
Got a question? Check whether we’ve already answered it for you…
HR management outsourcing is when a team of experts manage your HR by looking after your contracts, policies, and procedures.
These are the HR essentials every business needs. Without them, your staff could bring successful claims against you, you could lose thousands in legal fines, and even face prosecution. Never underestimate the benefits of HR support for a small business.
We have years of experience in providing HR for SMEs and HR management outsourcing. Contact us to see how we can support you, including HR advice for small businesses - as well as medium and large companies.
Good human resource management is having round the clock support when you need it the most.
Whenever there’s a staff challenge or an important legal update, you just pick up the phone and get the help you need – no matter the time or place.
The main benefits of HR outsourcing are:
- Cost saving: Reduces the expenses for such things are hiring, training and employing an in-house HR team.
- Time saving: Saves time for staff members away from HR tasks.
- Improves expertise and compliance: Provides ongoing advice and support to ensure complete and total compliance.
- Reduces risk: Reduces the risk of any payroll and compliance failures.
Outsourcing HR is cheaper than hiring internal staff and saves you money overall when it comes to your HR service. Plus, you avoid making mistakes that could cost you heavily in claims and legal fines down the line. Every business should consider HR support as a way to avoid claims.
Peninsula is one of the leading HR outsourcing services in the UK, and by working with us you get access to our HR advisory service. Contact us for your outsourced SME HR today.
The key functions of HR outsourcing services are:
- Payroll and benefits: Helps a business to manage employee wages, tax processing, and employee enrolment.
- Recruitment and onboarding: Helps with job descriptions, sourcing new candidates, interviewing, and ensuring a smooth onboarding process.
- Compliance with employment law: Helps to ensure compliance with ever-changing employment legislation.
- Employee relations: Helps to manage grievance and disciplinary procedures, and any ongoing support that's required.
- HR admin: Helps to handle and manage daily tasks, such as employee records, sorting employment contracts, and processing any leave requests.
- Training and development: Helps to create and deliver staff training programs to improve employees' skills.
It doesn’t matter what a person’s employment status is or how long they’ve worked for you… All employees are protected from unlawful, unfavourable treatment during work. This is known as ‘discrimination’.
Research by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) found that 52% of people faced at least one form of workplace bullying, harassment, or discrimination connected to their sexual orientation
Peninsula GroupHR and Health & Safety Experts
Discrimination
Award-winning services
Take the first step towards a safer business. Answer a few questions about your HR and Health & Safety management and we’ll direct you to the support you need
0800 158 2313Speak to an expert 24/7
Jump to section:
Discrimination is when you treat an employee less favourably than other members of staff. This is typically due to gender, race, disability, or sexual orientation.
But even if your business puts in policies to ensure it doesn’t happen, there are subtle instances that can still affect your organisation.
This guide explores a hidden form of prejudice and the employment laws you must follow.
Claim your free advice call
Find the safest and easiest way to resolve your workplace issue
It takes place in a workplace when a provision, criterion, or practice (PCP) you adopt has the effect of disadvantaging a group of people with a protected characteristic.
It’s important to distinguish this from direct discrimination, which occurs where, because of a protected characteristic, an employer treats an employee less favourably than they would treat others.
Unlike direct discrimination, you can potentially justify forms of indirect discrimination if you can demonstrate the PCP represents a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
Indirect discrimination applies to all protected characteristics under the Equality Act, with the exception of pregnancy and maternity, although indirect sex discrimination may apply in pregnancy and maternity situations.
Tribunals will focus on whether an employer can demonstrate they have a legitimate aim for their actions.
In bringing a claim, it is first down to the employee to demonstrate that they have been subjected to indirect discrimination at work. Following this, the employer must then show that this treatment is objectively justifiable.
The different types of indirect discrimination
This issue can take many forms and it’s good business practice to be aware of how it can occur. The most common instances involve:
Gender reassignment.
Marriage and civil partnership.
Pregnancy and maternity.
Religion and belief.
Sexual orientation.
One of the most prevalent indirect discrimination examples is a situation where an employer requires their employees to work full-time.
This PCP could potentially disadvantage women overall as they’re more likely to want, or need, part-time hours to facilitate child caring arrangements.
Unless you can objectively justify this requirement (such as demonstrating it’s critical to the business that all employees work full-time), this could be deemed to indirectly discriminate against women.
An example of indirect racial discrimination could be a PCP that prohibits certain hairstyles in the workplace.
If an employer wished to ban cornrows or dreadlocks, they’d be more likely to affect certain racial groups than others and may indirectly discriminate against them.
An employer in this situation may struggle to objectively justify this requirement and should reconsider if such a rule is necessary.
On the flip side of this, a fire service may have in place a PCP that requires applicants to complete various physical tests before being offered a role.
Indirect age discrimination examples can confuse some employers. On the face of it, this might seem like age discrimination, given an older person could be less physically capable than a younger person, and could potentially also be an example of indirect disability discrimination.
However, since the role of a firefighter is physically strenuous for the purposes of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of individuals, it’s more likely to be a legitimate aim.
The importance of business fairness
You need to ensure you’re familiar with the rules surrounding indirect discrimination and be aware of it potentially arising when they are establishing workplace processes.
Remember, a successful claim for discrimination could result in an unlimited award from an employment tribunal.
Need our help?
We take care of everything when you work with our HR experts.
Want to find out more? Contact us on 0800 028 2420 and book a free consultation with an HR consultant today.
Guide
Peninsula GroupHR and Health & Safety Experts
Guide
Guide