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Understanding Positive Discrimination, legal measures promoting equality. Learn about special measures to promote equality based on age, sex, race or disability.

It is against the law to discriminate against a woman because she is pregnant or might become pregnant. Pregnancy discrimination happens when a woman is treated less favourably than another person because she is pregnant or because she may become pregnant. It is also discrimination when there is an unreasonable requirement or practice that is the same for everyone but has an unfair effect on…

Asking applicants certain questions in a job interview may disadvantage some people and could amount to discrimination. Employers are required by law to avoid discrimination when recruiting staff. Employers should not seek unnecessary and potentially discriminatory information from applicants when they develop selection criteria or prepare interview questions. It could be discrimination if …

A quick guide to racial discrimination, legal protection, and special measures to promote racial equality. Promote diversity and prevent discrimination in your workplace.

In some circumstances, employers can require employees and potential employees to meet the physical requirements of a job. However, physical requirements can amount to unlawful discrimination in some circumstances. Discrimination could be against the law if it is linked to a protected attribute, such as a person’s race, age, sex or disability, and the requirement is not reasonable. Example:…

An employer may be obliged to conduct a police check where there is a legal requirement that an employee or job applicant should not have a certain criminal record. However, an employer should only ask job applicants and employees to disclose criminal record information if certain criminal convictions or offences are relevant to the inherent requirements of the job. Asking an applicant or…

The type of policies your organisation should put in place will depend on the needs and circumstances of your particular workplace. Some organisations choose to have a single workplace policy which prohibits discrimination, bullying, and harassment on a range of grounds, including a person’s sex, race, disability, age or sexual orientation. Others may decide there is a need for an additional…

Lesbians are protected from discrimination by law. The Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to treat a person less favourably than another person in a similar situation because of her sexual orientation. There are some limited exemptions. Same-sex couples are also protected from discrimination under the definition of ‘marital or relationship status’ in the Act. Example: A company policy…

It is against the law to discriminate against a person because of his or her marital or relationship status. This includes people who are single, married, in a de facto relationship, separated, divorced, widowed or never married. It also includes people in same-sex relationships. There are some limited exemptions. Discrimination happens when a person is treated less favourably than another…

Some organisations include a medical assessment as part of their recruitment process to gather additional information that will be used to select the successful candidate. However, it is important that employers do not discriminate against any candidate when using this information. It is against the law to refuse to employ a person based on information from a medical examination that…

A guide for employers to understand the rights of employees with mental illness.