DISCRIMINATION

It is unlawful to discriminate against individuals in the workplace by reference to their race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religious beliefs and age. Each type of discrimination has its own separate rules but in essence the victim of discrimination in the workplace is entitled to unlimited compensation as against his or her employer. The unlawful discrimination can be either direct or indirect. Direct discrimination entails treating a person less favourably by reason of their sex, age, race, religion, national origin etc. A commonly cited example of this type of discrimination would be declining a job application to a female applicant purely on the grounds that she is more likely to take maternity leave than a male applicant for the same role. Indirect discrimination is the imposition of a requirement or condition upon a person or group of persons which results in a considerably smaller proportion of that persons group (e.g. racial group or sex) being able to meet that condition or requirement than the remainder of the population. So for example if an employer requires fluency in a second European language as a condition for a particular position, where that second language requirement has little relevance to the job itself, an Asian candidate could argue indirect discrimination. This would be by virtue of the fact that he or she are less likely to have English as their mother tongue and are less likely to have learned a second European language.