<INSERT ORGANISATION NAME> DISCRIMINATION DURING EMPLOYMENT
CHECKLIST
DISCRIMINATION DURING EMPLOYMENT CHECKLIST
Tick off each point after consideration.
Pay
Avoid paying a lower rate to a new or promoted employee compared to
the previous job holder unless you can justify this based on their
knowledge, skills and experience.
Have a transparent system for awarding pay rises and bonuses that don’t
give managers a high degree of discretion.
Managing Absence
Require managers to record the reasons for all absences clearly and
explain that it may be necessary to treat time off related to a disability or
pregnancy differently from other sickness absence.
Consider whether it would be a reasonable adjustment to relax your
attendance policy if sick leave or other absences (such as time off for
medical appointments or treatment) were related to an employee’s
disability.
Disregard all pregnancy-related absences for the purpose of attendance
management action.
Consider a phased return and adjusted duties if someone has been off on
long-term sick leave. This is advisable anyway to help someone readjust to
work but is likely to be required as a reasonable adjustment for a disabled
worker.
Promotions and Job Changes
Advertise promotion or transfer opportunities to all employees internally
and avoid overlooking people because they are too old, too young or have
another protected characteristic.
Inform any women on maternity leave of positions that become available.
Make reasonable adjustments if appropriate to the selection process or
the job itself.
Have a system for passing on information about any reasonable
adjustments if a disabled employee moves to another part of the
organisation or gets a new manager. A written reasonable adjustments
agreement or ‘disability passport’ – with the employee retaining one copy
to show to any new manager – is a good way of doing this.
Training
© Agora Business Publications LLP. The information in this document is for general guidance only and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity.
The document may need to be tailored to suit individual circumstances and professional advice should be sought before any action is taken, or any decision is made to refrain from
action. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Agora Business Publications LLP and our contributors do not accept liability for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or other losses or
damages of whatsoever kind arising from any action or inaction of the user other than liability limited to the fee paid for the document.
Make all relevant staff aware of training opportunities, including women
on maternity leave.
Avoid making assumptions, such as that someone is too old to learn a
new skill.
Make reasonable adjustments if necessary, such as reading out training
materials to a visually impaired worker.
Be flexible if you can – for example, a residential or weekend course might
deter a woman with young children.
Annual Leave
If someone wants time off to celebrate a religious festival, be
sympathetic and grant the leave if you can. However, there’s no legal right
as such to time off to for religious reasons and you don’t have to give the
request priority over other leave requests.
Have an impartial system for managing annual leave requests, perhaps
with a rota for dates that are in high demand.
Working Hours
Warn managers to avoid discrimination when considering requests for
flexible working or altered working patterns. They need to be careful
even if the person doesn’t have the 26 weeks’ continuous service needed
to make a flexible working request and even if the organisation is entitled
to refuse the request under the flexible working legislation.
Dress Codes
Make sure you can justify any dress or personal appearance
requirements on business or health and safety grounds.
To reduce the risk of sex or religious discrimination claims, avoid being
too prescriptive. For example, it’s safer to require all employees to be
‘well groomed’ or to ‘dress smartly’ rather than having rigid rules around
hair and clothes.
Redundancy
If you use poor attendance as a criterion to select staff for redundancy,
disregard absences related to disability, pregnancy, maternity and
parental leave.
If you have selected an employee on maternity, adoption or shared
parental leave for redundancy, offer them any suitable alternative
vacancy ahead of other employees.
Don’t solely use ‘last in, first out’ to select staff for redundancy. This could
be age discrimination as most newer workers are likely to be younger than
your longer-serving staff.
Performance and Conduct Dismissals
© Agora Business Publications LLP. The information in this document is for general guidance only and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity.
The document may need to be tailored to suit individual circumstances and professional advice should be sought before any action is taken, or any decision is made to refrain from
action. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Agora Business Publications LLP and our contributors do not accept liability for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or other losses or
damages of whatsoever kind arising from any action or inaction of the user other than liability limited to the fee paid for the document.
Make sure managers understand that employees don’t need any
minimum employment period to bring a discrimination claim and casual
workers can also claim discrimination from day one of employment.
Require managers to keep clear records of mistakes, failings or behaviour
concerns and what they’ve done to address these.
Avoid rushing through dismissals, even if a person has less than 2 years’
service. Unless the risk of a discrimination claim is very low, it’s safest to
follow a fair disciplinary procedure in line with the Acas Code of Practice,
regardless of length of service.
© Agora Business Publications LLP. The information in this document is for general guidance only and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity.
The document may need to be tailored to suit individual circumstances and professional advice should be sought before any action is taken, or any decision is made to refrain from
action. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Agora Business Publications LLP and our contributors do not accept liability for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or other losses or
damages of whatsoever kind arising from any action or inaction of the user other than liability limited to the fee paid for the document.
