Approved by Council on March 2025
Reviewed on
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Our commitment 2
The law 2
Types of unlawful discrimination 2
Equal opportunities in employment 3
Dignity at work 4
People not employed by the council 4
Training 4
Your responsibilities 5
Grievances 5
Monitoring and review 5
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The council is committed to providing equal opportunities in employment and to avoiding
unlawful discrimination.
This policy is intended to assist the council to put this commitment into practice. Compliance
with this policy should also ensure that employees do not commit unlawful acts of
discrimination.
Striving to ensure that the work environment is free of harassment and bullying and that
everyone is treated with dignity and respect is an important aspect of ensuring equal
opportunities in employment.
It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of
age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour,
nationality, caste and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, or
because someone is married or in a civil partnership. These are known as “protected
characteristics”.
Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, e.g. refusing to give a reference for a
reason related to one of the protected characteristics.
The council will not discriminate against or harass a member of the public in the provision of
services or goods. It is unlawful to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers
to using services caused by disability. The duty to make reasonable adjustments includes
the removal, adaptation or alteration of physical features, if the physical features make it
impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services. In addition,
service providers have an obligation to think ahead and address any barriers that may
impede disabled people from accessing a service.
Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably than another because of a
protected characteristic.
In limited circumstances, employers can directly discriminate against an individual for a
reason related to any of the protected characteristics where there is an occupational
requirement. The occupational requirement must be crucial to the post and a proportionate
means of achieving a legitimate aim.
Indirect discrimination is where a provision, criterion or practice is applied that is
discriminatory in relation to individuals who have a relevant protected characteristic such that
it would be to the detriment of people who share that protected characteristic compared with
people who do not, and it cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a
legitimate aim.
Harassment is where there is unwanted conduct, related to one of the protected
characteristics (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity) that
has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile,
degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect
was intended by the person responsible for the conduct.
Associative discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed
for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic.
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Perceptive discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed
based on a perception that they have a particular protected characteristic when they don’t ,
in fact, have that protected characteristic.
Third-party harassment occurs where an employee is harassed and the harassment is
related to a protected characteristic, by third parties.
Victimisation occurs where an employee is subjected to a detriment, such as being denied a
training opportunity or a promotion because they made or supported a complaint or raised a
grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However,
an employee is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or
supported an untrue complaint.
Failure to make reasonable adjustments is where a physical feature or a provision, criterion
or practice puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with someone
who does not have that protected characteristic and the employer has failed to make
reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage.
The council will avoid unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including
recruitment, promotion, opportunities for training, pay and benefits, discipline and selection
for redundancy.
Person and job specifications will be limited to those requirements that are necessary for the
effective performance of the job. Candidates for employment or promotion will be assessed
objectively against the requirements for the job, taking account of any reasonable
adjustments that may be required for candidates with a disability. Disability and personal or
home commitments will not form the basis of employment decisions except where
necessary.
The council will consider any possible indirectly discriminatory effect of its standard working
practices, including the number of hours to be worked, the times at which these are to be
worked and the place at which work is to be done, when considering requests for variations
to these standard working practices and will refuse such requests only if the council
considers it has good reasons, unrelated to any protected characteristic, for doing so. The
council will comply with its obligations in relation to statutory requests for contract variations.
The council will also make reasonable adjustments to its standard working practices to
overcome barriers caused by disability.
The council will monitor the ethnic, sex/gender and age composition of the existing
workforce and of applicants for jobs (including promotion), and the number of people with
disabilities within these groups, and will consider and take any appropriate action to address
any problems that may be identified as a result of the monitoring process.
The council treats personal data collected for reviewing equality and diversity in accordance
with the data protection policy. Information about how data is used and the basis for
processing is provided in the council’s privacy notices.
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The council has a separate dignity at work policy concerning issues of bullying and
harassment on any ground, and how complaints of this type will be dealt with.
The council will not discriminate unlawfully against those using or seeking to use the
services provided by the council.
You should report any bullying or harassment by suppliers, visitors or others to the council
who will take appropriate action.
The council will provide training in/raise awareness of equal opportunities to those likely to
be involved in recruitment or other decision making where equal opportunities issues are
likely to arise.
The council will provide training to/raise awareness of all staff engaged to work at the council
to help them understand their rights and responsibilities under the dignity at work policy and
what they can do to help create a working environment free of bullying and harassment.
We will take active steps to try to prevent third-party harassment of staff. If any third-party
harassment of staff occurs, we will take steps to remedy any complaints and to prevent it
happening again. Action may include warning the harasser about their behaviour, banning
them from our premises, reporting any criminal acts to the police, and sharing information
with other branches of the business.
Every employee is required to assist the council to meet its commitment to provide equal
opportunities in employment and avoid unlawful discrimination. Employees can be held
personally liable as well as, or instead of, the council for any act of unlawful discrimination.
Employees who commit serious acts of harassment may be guilty of a criminal offence.
Acts of discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation against employees or customers
are disciplinary offences and will be dealt with under the council’s disciplinary procedure.
Discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation may constitute gross misconduct and
could lead to dismissal without notice.
If you consider that you may have been unlawfully discriminated against, you should use the
council’s grievance procedure to make a complaint. If your complaint involves bullying or
harassment, the grievance procedure is modified as set out in the dignity at work policy.
The council will take any complaint seriously and will seek to resolve any grievance that it
upholds. You will not be penalised for raising a grievance, even if your grievance is not
upheld, unless your complaint is both untrue and made in bad faith.
This policy will be monitored periodically by the council to judge its effectiveness and will be
updated in accordance with changes in the law.
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