It is unlawful for an employer to treat you differently from others because of your sex, because you are married, or if you've had, are having or are going to have gender reassignment.
Equal opportunity laws aim to create a 'level playing field' so that people are employed, paid, trained and promoted only because of their skills, abilities and how they do their job.
Under the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 it's unlawful for an employer to discriminate against you because of your sex or because you are married. It's also unlawful to discriminate against you because you've had, are having or intend to have gender reassignment. This means someone, supervised by a doctor, who changes their gender.
The discrimination can be 'direct' or 'indirect', deliberate or accidental. If someone is disadvantaged at work because of their sex, marital status or gender, it is unlawful and the employer should stop the discrimination. Sex discrimination laws cover almost all workers and all types of organisation in the United Kingdom.
The Equal Pay Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate between men and women in terms of their pay and conditions where they are doing the same or similar work; work rated as equivalent in a job evaluation study by the employer, or work of equal value.
Sex discrimination at work is unlawful in all parts of employment. The law covers recruitment, terms and conditions, pay and benefits, status, training, promotion and transfer opportunities, right through to redundancy and dismissal. However, in some cases, a job can be offered to someone of a particular sex, because of what is called a 'genuine occupational qualification'. Examples could include:
There are four types of discrimination:
Employers who don't stop sex and gender discrimination by their employees may themselves be discriminating unlawfully.
In some circumstances, an employer may encourage or offer support specifically to men or women, and this 'positive action' is allowed under sex discrimination laws. For example, an employer who has no women managers might offer some training in management skills only to women or encourage them to apply for management posts.
Positive action applies only to training and encouragement to apply for posts, so when it comes to choosing who is to get a post the employer must consider all candidates on their suitability alone.
If you think that you’re suffering sex discrimination at work, you should talk to your employer, explaining what you see as discrimination. If necessary, put your complaint in writing. An employee representative, like a trades union official, may be able to help you. Your employer may have an equal opportunities policy - ask to see it.
If this doesn’t help, you may need to make a complaint using your employer’s grievance procedure. You shouldn't be victimised for making a complaint, as this would count as discrimination.
If you’re still unhappy, you can apply to an Industrial Tribunal – you’ll need to do this within three months of the discrimination taking place or within six months if it is about unequal pay. Tribunals can award compensation for unlawful sex discrimination.
Employment
