What is a good reason to complain about discrimination?
“Everyone hates taking out the rubbish - it’s always been the job of the newest recruit. Now our manager has decided to use a rota so everyone has to do it. But I’ve been there longest; I shouldn’t have to do that kind of thing. It’s discrimination.”
Anji, Beckenham
This isn't a good complaint about discrimination. Anji may not like the changes, but this is not discrimination. It is a management decision which applies to everyone equally.
What is Discrimination?
Discrimination is when you are treated worse than other people because of your:
- Sex
- Race or Colour
- Disability
- Nationality
- Ethnic or National Origin
- Religion or Belief
- Sexuality orientation
- Age
- Part-time status
- Fixed term contract
There are other reasons that can count as discrimination, but these are the most common types.
Do I have a good reason to make a complaint about discrimination?
“As a practising Muslim, I asked my work to let me take my breaks to coincide with daily prayers. They say no one else gets to choose their breaks so why should they give me special treatment?”
Asar, Leeds
This would be a fair complaint about discrimination. Although Asar is being treated like everyone else, his work has a duty to allow for religious needs, unless there are real practical difficulties in doing so.
Sometimes it’s obvious when you have good reason to make a complaint about discrimination - for example, if someone makes offensive comments about your sexuality or your ethnicity. But it’s not always as clear-cut as that. Maybe you are being given worse jobs than everyone else and you believe the real reason is one of the discrimination issues listed above. Another type of discrimination is when there are rules which apply to everyone, but which are harder for you to follow, for example, because of your religion or sex etc.
It also applies where you have a disability or long term health condition which affects your ability to carry out day to day activities and your employer treats you less favourably because of something connected with your disability or your employer refuses to make reasonable changes to your job to enable you to continue working.
You can make a complaint if any of these kinds of discrimination are happening at your work. It doesn't even have to be you that is suffering from the discrimination, you can make a complaint about discrimination happening to somebody else.
You may also have a valid complaint if you are treated less favourably because of the protected characteristic of someone connected with you who is not necessarily a colleague. For example, if your employer treats you less favourably because your partner, child, or other relative has a disability. This is called associative discrimination.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that we don’t all get on with each other. You might not have a valid complaint if it’s just a personality clash or you don’t like a particular management style.
For more information about discrimination see Is that discrimination?.
