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Discrimination
Direct discrimination under the law means treating a person less favourably on grounds of their colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender or marital status or for reasons relating to a person's disability.
Indirect discrimination occurs when a rule, condition or requirement which applies equally to everyone has a disproportionately adverse effect on people from a particular racial group, or of a particular religion or belief, or sexual orientation, or age, or on one gender, or a married person of the same gender, and there is no objective justification for the rule. There is no comparable concept of 'indirect discrimination' in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, but there is a duty to make reasonable adjustments to reduce or remove disadvantage.
Harassment is a form of discrimination.
For more information, visit the Discrimination Law section of this toolkit.
Institutional discrimination
Institutional discrimination is the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people in different equality groups. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviours which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and stereotyping, which disadvantage equality groups.
Positive discrimination
Positive discrimination is not to be confused with positive action. Positive discrimination, affirmative action or reverse discrimination, generally means choosing someone solely on the grounds of their gender or racial group, and not on their abilities. Positive discrimination is illegal under UK anti-discrimination law.
NB Under the Disability Discrimination Act, positive discrimination in favour of disabled people is not unlawful. In fact, employers and service providers are under a positive legal duty to make all reasonable adjustments in favour of disabled people.
For more information, visit the Discrimination Law section of this toolkit.
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