Eliminating discrimination in the workplace

Discrimination is treating, or proposing to treat, someone unfavourably because of a personal characteristic protected by the law. Employers can be held legally responsible for acts of discrimination and sexual harassment that occur at work or are connected to the workplace. Discrimination in the workplace is an issue, particularly if it affects you or your friends or family.

A “race disparity audit” ordered by Theresa May due to be published imminently, will give unprecedented insight into how people from different backgrounds are treated in society, including their access to healthcare, education, employment and in the criminal justice system.

Simon Robinson, Employment Law Partner at GunnerCooke LLP and guest contributor for Engage & Prosper shares insight on the latest stats on discrimination:

Race:

• A new “race disparity audit”, which is due to be published, will show the employment rates are 76% for white people but 64% for black, Asian and minority ethnic people of working age.

Maternity:

• The scale of maternity discrimination is hidden because of confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements; and
• Around one in nine of more than 3,000 mothers questioned said they had been dismissed, made compulsorily redundant, or treated so badly they felt they had to leave their job, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2015.

Click here to read the article about race discrimination. Click here to read the article about maternity discrimination.

You may also find the following Social Mobility articles of interest.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/02/theresa-may-crisis-mass-walkout-social-policy-alan-milburn

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/28/labour-and-tories-have-both-failed-on-social-mobility-report-finds

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/28/social-mobility-is-the-wrong-goal-what-we-need-is-more-equality

 

A big thanks to Simon for helping raising awareness on this employment law and discrimination and equality issue. He has a regular newsletter which is well worth a read and subscribing to so you get all the updates when available.

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Engage & Prosper is a UK based privately owned company and Social Enterprise that helps organisations to develop a highly productive workplace culture through enhanced employee engagement and tailored reward and recognition programmes.

For more information on Engage & Prosper or to discover how we can help you achieve your organisational goals please call +44 (0) 330 223 0464 or find out more at www.engageandprosper.com