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Discrimination

I am a female manager of a small department of staff. One of my members of staff, a woman, has raised a formal grievance that I have discriminated against her on grounds of age. I cannot understand what the reasons are for her complaint as I am about the same age as her. Surely the fact that we are of a similar age could be a defence?

First of all you will need to have an independent manager within your organisation investigate the grounds of the grievance by talking to the complainant. The investigating person will also need to consider if there is any evidence (such as emails) or witnesses from whom statements should also be taken. You will also be asked to give your account of events.The fact that you are the same age as the complainant is not necessarily a ‘defence’.

Discrimination on grounds of age is where a person treats another less favourably on grounds of the other person’s age. It can also take place where there is a provision, criterion or practice which may apply to various age groups but puts one age group at a particular disadvantage and puts the complainant at that disadvantage. Such treatment is only justifiable if it can be objectively justified by showing that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Although one might think that discriminatory remarks, views or inbuilt prejudice would be more prevalent between people of different age groups, from a legal point of view the age of the person carrying out the act of discrimination or harassment may well be irrelevant. Of more importance is whether the act of discrimination or harassment actually happened.


We have received a Sex Discrimination Act questionnaire from a firm of solicitors acting on behalf of an employee who had previously raised a grievancewith us over the same problem. The employee instructed the solicitors whilst she was still in employment with us, but we have received the sad news that the employee died yesterday. We are not sure whether we should respond to the questionnaire. What do you advise?

Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out provisions for the personal representatives (in other words, the executors of the will or administrators if the person died intestate) of an employee who has died to commence or continue Employment Tribunal proceedings and in these cases any awards made would be paid to the estate. We therefore recommend that you answer the questionnaire as you would normally do. HCS can help with such a request as these questionnaires are notoriously complex and this sounds like a very sensitive case.


We have recruited an employee who is disabled. What information should we gather regarding their disability and what can we expect our employee to provide. We want to ensure full compliance in making reasonable adjustments, how can we avoid breaching this duty?

obliged to make reasonable adjustments where you know – or could reasonably be expected to know – that the person concerned s disabled and is likely to suffer a substantial disadvantage in comparison to a person who is not disabled. You should have suitable and confidential systems in place to gather information about an employee’s or candidate’s disability such as an Pre-employment medical questionnaire. Once disability is established, the employer should consider consulting with the individual, their GP and/or the employer’s occupational health adviser on how the person’s ability to carry out their job is affected by the disability, and on the types of reasonable adjustment that could be made. Employees are expected to co-operate if they wish to rely on the employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments.  However, an employer can have constructive knowledge of a disability even when they are not specifically informed of it. Although the range of possible adjustments is limitless, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) code of practice provide examples of steps that could be taken by an employer to rectify any disadvantage that the person with a disability might face. These include:  • Conducting a proper assessment of what reasonable adjustments may be required; • Altering hours or the place of work; • Reallocating duties to another employee; or • Modifying disciplinary or grievance procedures or redundancy selection criteria.  The DDA also provides a list of factors that must be taken into account when deciding whether a step is reasonable. These include: • The likelihood of the adjustment removing or reducing the disadvantage to the disabled person (e.g. offering part-time hours is a reasonable adjustment only if the employee is fit to return to work from sick leave);  • The nature of the employer’s activities and the size of its undertaking; • The costs the employer will incur, and the resources and assistance available; and • The disruption to the employer’s organisation.