Is there a Discrimination Act?

Discrimination Act UK NIHave you experienced discrimination at work?
Wondering if there is a Discrimination Act to protect you?
Concerned about whether you’re covered in NI as much as the rest of the UK?

The short answer is Yes, but that’s not what the Act is called, and the details differ depending on whether you’re in Northern Ireland (NI) or the rest of the UK.

In Great Britain, discrimination is covered by the Equality Act 2010. This Act replaced discrimination previous law, and covers these nine protected characteristics:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Marriage or civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race, including colour, nationality, ethnicity and national origin (see below)
  • Religion and belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual Orientation

The Equality Act means you can’t legally be treated unfairly, harassed or victimised because of who you are.

You’re also protected from discrimination if you’re associated with someone who has a protected characteristic, for example a family member or friend, and if you’ve made a complaint about discrimination or supported someone else’s complaint.

You can read more about it in this article:

Equality Act

Based in Northern Ireland?

The range of legislation is Northern Ireland is slightly different to the rest of the UK, and includes protection against political discrimination. The Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Northern Ireland) 1998 makes discrimination unlawful when it’s on the grounds of religious and/or political beliefs.

You may be interested to read our article about that:

Political belief discrimination

There are other differences in Northern Ireland legislation which mean people may have less protection against discrimination and harassment than people in other parts of the UK.

In NI, the race equality legislation has not yet been harmonised to give people the same level of protection on grounds of colour and nationality as well as race, ethnic origin and nationality.

Except in certain limited circumstances, NI employers are not yet prohibited from asking job applicants questions related to disability prior to making a job offer. Also to match the rest of GB, the definition of disability could be revised to make it easier for people for disabled people to qualify, and NI law could be strengthened to prohibit both ‘indirect disability discrimination’ and ‘discrimination arising from disability’.

What this means to you

Have you experienced discrimination at work?

You have the right to make a claim for discrimination from day 1 of your employment – or even earlier if the discrimination occurred during the interview process.

In most cases, you must submit your claim within three months from the date of the incident you are complaining about.

This means you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. Of course, we can help with that.

We represent clients all over the UK.

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About Us

Employment Law Solicitors Belfast & Newcastle
Paul Doran Law - The Solicitors For
Employees In Belfast And Newcastle

Employment Law Solicitors Belfast & Newcastle
Paul Doran Law - The Soklicitors For Employees In Belfast And Newcastle

Paul Doran Law are employment law specialists who only act for employees and claimants who find themselves in dispute with their employees. we specialise in assisting employees to ensure that we can obtain the best results for you.

Our solicitors are admitted to the roll in England and Wales and we can act for clients in the Employment Tribunals in Northern Ireland and Scotland.