Discrimination in working life Protected grounds of discrimination. The legal definition of discrimination A simplified description of the legal definition of discrimination is when a person is treated disfavourably or when a person's dignity is violated.
The law only protects individuals The Discrimination Act protects individuals and not for example organisations or companies. A restaurant does not admit a guest because the person has cerebral palsy.
An employee has lower pay than a colleague of the opposite sex with the same or equivalent work. A manager makes unwelcome sexual advances. A teacher ridicules a pupil for wearing a headscarf. A dentist will not allow a man to make an appointment because he is wearing a dress. A factory demands that all employees must be over a certain height. An official at the public employment service ridicules a person for being bisexual.
An employer terminates a trial employment period when the employee informs the employer that she is pregnant. The staff at a restaurant refuse to read the menu for a guest who has a visual impairment. Where can you be discriminated? The prohibition of discrimination applies in the following areas in society working life education labour market activities and employment services not under public contract starting up or running a business professional recognition membership of certain organisations goods, services and housing outside the private and family sphere the organisation of a meeting or event that is open to the public such as concerts, markets or fairs health and medical care social services and assistance in the form of special transport services and housing adaptation allowances social insurance system the Social Insurance Agency's services unemployment insurance state financial aid for studies national military service and civilian service.
The Discrimination Act does not apply everywhere The Discrimination Act does not regulate what happens between private individuals, such as how neighbours or relatives behave towards each other. Contact the proper authority for guidance link Six forms of discrimination There are different forms of discrimination in the law.
They are direct discrimination indirect discrimination Inadequate accessibility harassment sexual harassment instructions to discriminate. Direct discrimination Direct discrimination is when a person is disadvantaged by being treated less favourably than another person in a comparable situation.
Here are some examples of what may constitute direct discrimination: If someone applies for a job and meets the requirements of the advertisement but is not invited to an interview, while someone else who has the same or similar qualifications is called for an interview, and the difference in treatment is related to a ground of discrimination such as the person's sex.
If a person who wants to buy petrol at a service station must pay in advance while another customer is allowed to pay afterwards, and if the difference in treatment is linked to a ground of discrimination such as the person's ethnicity.
What constitutes a disadvantage? What is a comparable situation? Requirement of a connection with the grounds of discrimination For a situation to involve direct discrimination, there must also be a connection between the disadvantage and the ground of discrimination. Indirect discrimination Indirect discrimination is when there is a rule or a procedure that appears to be neutral but in fact disadvantages people of a certain sex, a certain sexual identity or expression, a certain ethnic affiliation, a certain religion or belief, a certain disability, a certain sexual orientation or a certain age.
It is not a case of indirect discrimination, however, if the following criteria are met: The purpose of the rule or procedure is justified, that is to say, legitimate and objectively acceptable.
This entails that the aim itself must be worth protecting and sufficiently important to take precedence over the principle of non-discrimination. The means used are appropriate and necessary to achieve the purpose. This means that there are no alternative means of achieving the objective.
Example, requirements concerning language proficiency: If an employer places high demands on knowledge of Swedish by job applicants, it could disadvantage people who have Swedish as a second language.
Inadequate accessibility Inadequate accessibility is when a person with a disability is disadvantaged through a failure to take reasonable accessibility measures that would put that person in a comparable situation with others without the disability. What are reasonable measures?
In the overall assessment of what constitutes a reasonable measure, the following are also taken into account: The financial and practical situation at the organisation. The duration and level of the relationship between the individual and the organisation. Other significant factors, such as the benefits of a measure. Which measures provide accessibility? Examples of support or personal service: Support in school classes. Guidance through an authority's premises. Help in picking and packing groceries in a shop.
Having the menu read out at a restaurant. Examples of accessible information and communication: Information in alternative formats, for example in large print or on a Daisy text on a CD-ROM with good search functions. Alternative ways of supplying tickets. Examples of measures in the physical environment: Increased accessibility in a shop through the relocation of goods. Levelling of thresholds and other differences in levels. Installing contrast marking around differences in levels.
Measures that allow a person to get on board and travel on a bus or other means of transport. Guidance and assistance with baggage. Inadequate accessibility is discrimination Harassment and sexual harassment Harassment is conduct that violates a person's dignity. Instruction to discriminate An instruction to discriminate is when someone gives an order or instructs someone who is in some way dependent, such as an employee, to discriminate against another person.
The instruction could for example be that: only applicants with Swedish names are to be interviewed a person is not to be provided with a certain service because of his or her sexual orientation a person with a certain ethnicity is not to be allowed into a shop or restaurant.
Court decides on compensation A party that subjects someone else to discrimination may become liable to pay compensation to the victim of discrimination. A member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your discrimination matter in more detail.
Do you guys help with discrimination in other matters? Yes, we do. Good afternoon, i was diagnosed by my doctor with cardiovascular disease after a heart attack.
Back in have constantly been having problems at work i work for the city i live recently i was denied motified duty which i did not request they want me to work overtime knowing that in previous times within the past two years it affected me in the job that i had to go to hospital.
Now new administration wanted and excuse which i provided said i could work my regular schedule 8 hrs a day 40 hrs a week but no overtime it was denied by my director but then our wellness called me in and when i asked them for a copy of denial letter they said not to worry.
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Direct Discrimination Direct discrimination is where somebody has been treated differently or worse than another employee due to an underlying reason. Direct discrimination is split into three separate categories. The categories include: Ordinary direct discrimination.
Where somebody is treated differently because of a protected characteristic. Direct discrimination by association. Where somebody is treated differently because of a protected characteristic possessed by someone who they are associated with. Examples are a friend who is a fellow work colleague. Direct discrimination by perception. People are treated differently because of a protected characteristic, other people think they possess, regardless of whether the perception is correct.
Indirect Discrimination Indirect discrimination is a less obvious type of discrimination than direct discrimination and is usually unintentional. It has or will have the effect of putting those who share the protected characteristic at a disadvantage compared to others who do not have the characteristic. It puts or would put, the person at that disadvantage. The employer is unable to justify it objectively. Harassment Harassment is when somebody is conveying negative behaviour towards a fellow employee.
Victimisation The final type of discrimination in the workplace is victimisation. When Is Discrimination Lawful? Rebecca Young says:. Dominic Dennis says:. Lalthuoilien Hmar says:. Levi Armstrong says:. Jen says:. Robert says:. Aruna says:. Sheila says:.
Dolores Rivera says:. Raquel Hermana says:. Brandon Townsend says:. Dorothy says:. Breena says:. Jack says:. Terence Timmons says:. Search for:. Subscribe to our blog. What Is Child Abuse? Everything You Need To Know. In the case of racial profiling, courts have accepted the widespread existence of racism. For example, in the case of anti-Black racism, they have accepted that pervasive negative societal views about Black men may wrongly connect Black men and acts of violence.
This may lead to behaviour being unconsciously influenced by stereotypes, and overreactions to conduct where Black people are perceived as threatening, even where there is no real risk. Because of this, they may be perceived to be a risk to public security and responded to in a disproportionate way.
Even if there is some evidence of risk or wrongdoing, organizations are expected to respond in a way that is proportionate to the situation. There will rarely be direct evidence of profiling and, therefore, it must be proven by inference drawn from circumstantial evidence. These factors may be relevant when considering whether profiling based on mental health was a reason for the alleged treatment:.
People who believe they are being profiled can be expected to find the experience upsetting and might well react in an angry and verbally aggressive way. Police must also believe that the person has a mental disorder that will result in serious bodily harm to others, or that the disorder will cause serious bodily harm or physical impairment to themselves.
The HRTO has found that it is not discriminatory to respond to the actual behaviour of people with mental health disabilities that causes risk. Intersections of different Code grounds can contribute to people being perceived as a risk to public safety.
For example, people with mental health issues who are Aboriginal or from racialized communities may be more likely to be profiled as a security risk than other people. Example: A Tribunal ruled that the owner of a shopping mall and the security company it employed engaged in a pattern of discriminatory treatment of Aboriginal people and people with disabilities.
The Tribunal examined the "orders" that were used by the mall to direct the security officers on which people to watch for, and found that a number of elements discriminated against and stereotyped economically disadvantaged people. If organizations scrutinize people with known or perceived psychosocial disabilities based on stereotypes and assumptions, rather than actual behaviour, this may be a violation of the Code. Harassment is prohibited under the Code in employment and housing.
The issue is whether these events have work-related consequences for the person being harassed. In housing, people with psychosocial disabilities have the right to be free from harassment in accommodation by the landlord or an agent of the landlord or by an occupant of the same building, because of disability and other Code grounds.
Example: A tenant, who identified as having learning disabilities and depression, decided to move from her apartment to a subsidized housing unit. The landlord was aware that she had a mental health issue. People also have the right to be free from harassment in services, in making contracts, and in membership in unions, trade or vocational associations.
Sections 1, 3 and 6 of the Code guarantee the right to equal treatment in these social areas, without discrimination based on disability, among other Code grounds.
Harassment based on disability, as a form of discrimination, is therefore prohibited in these areas. It should be understood that some types of comments or behaviour are unwelcome based on the response of the person subjected to the behaviour, even when the person does not explicitly object.
Some conduct or comments relating to a Code -protected ground such as disability may not, on their face, be offensive. However, they may still be "unwelcome" from the perspective of a particular person. If similar behaviour is repeated despite indications from the person that it is unwelcome, there may be a violation of the Code.
Harassment could include:. Harassment based on Code grounds is occurring increasingly through cyber-technology, including cell phone text messaging, social networking sites, blogs and email.
Harassment may take different forms depending on whether the affected person identifies with more than one Code ground. Example: The HRTO found that an employer discriminated against an employee with bi-polar disorder when it made no efforts to respond to or investigate his concerns about harassment.
The employee reported a number of incidents of inappropriate comment and conduct by his co-workers related to his disability and perceived sexual orientation. Nothing was done about the harassment and bullying. There is no requirement that a person must object to the harassment at the time for a violation of the Code to exist, or for a person to claim their rights under the Code. Housing providers, employers and service providers have an obligation to maintain an environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, whether or not anyone objects.
A poisoned environment is a form of discrimination. In employment, tribunals have held that the atmosphere of a workplace is a condition of employment as much as hours of work or rate of pay.
A poisoned environment may be created when unwelcome conduct or comments are pervasive within the organization, which may result in a hostile or oppressive atmosphere for one or more people from a Code -protected group.
This can happen when a person or group is exposed to ongoing harassment. However, a poisoned environment is based on the nature of the comments or conduct and the impact of these on an individual rather than just on the number of times the behaviour occurs. Example: A woman, who had anxiety, was accommodated during surgery by having a person help her to relax before the procedure.
A consequence of creating a poisoned environment is that certain people are subjected to terms and conditions of employment, tenancy, or services that are quite different from those experienced by people who are not subjected to those comments or conduct.
This gives rise to a denial of equality under the Code. The disclosure of his addiction in emails in the context of allegations of wrongdoing offended the applicant's dignity and stigmatized him because of his disability. I accept that this discrimination had a detrimental impact on the applicant's confidence within the work environment and on his ability to work with his business contacts, and that they did not respond to him as they had done previously.
I accept that as a result of the discrimination, the applicant suffered humiliation, embarrassment, experienced a loss of self-respect, dignity, self-esteem and confidence and that he felt that he had been stigmatized in the context of his working environment. I find also that it resulted in him losing trust in the respondents and consequently to his resignation from this employment and that it resulted in a poisoned work environment.
The comments or actions of any person, regardless of his or her position of authority or status, may create a poisoned environment. Therefore, a co-worker, a supervisor, a co-tenant, a member of the Board of Directors, a service provider, a fellow student, etc. Behaviour need not be directed at any one person to create a poisoned environment. A person can experience a poisoned environment even if he or she is not a member of the group that is the target. Further, not addressing discrimination and harassment may in itself cause a poisoned environment.
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