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Discrimination legislation can be a particularly difficult area of law for employers to navigate without assistance.

Whilst areas of direct discrimination are fairly easy to spot, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation can arise in the most unlikely of places. For example, if your business was in the food and catering industry, it may be indirectly discriminatory to require your employees to wear a hairnet. Sikh men traditionally wear their hair wrapped in a turban and it would be against their religious belief to remove that turban and wear a hairnet in its place.

The areas of unlawful discrimination in employment have grown rapidly. It is at present unlawful to discriminate against your employees on the grounds of:

• Sex
• Pregnancy/Taking Maternity Leave/Pay
• Marital/Civil Partnership Status
• Gender Reassignment
• Race
• Disability
• Sexual Orientation and Religion & Belief
• Age

Discrimination can occur in all aspects of an employment relationship; from job advertisements and selection of candidates to interview, through to selecting successful candidates; when selecting for promotion; when dealing with disciplinary and grievance procedures; and when dismissing and retiring staff.

Ensure that you deal with any such issues properly and fairly. If you have a disabled employee, you must consider making reasonable adjustments to working practices and/or premises to allow that employee to work for you.

Make sure that you know the correct procedure to follow when you are considering retiring an employee from service.

Employment Tribunals have the power to award unlimited sums in compensation for discrimination and employers must make sure that they do not fall foul of the legislation.

The employment law team at Malcolm & Co. Solicitors can advise you with all aspects of discrimination law to ensure you are confident dealing with the various issues. We also offer in house training on discrimination legislation and can draft any equal opportunity policies which you may need.