When an employer applies an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice which puts workers sharing a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage, this may amount to indirect discrimination.

 

The easiest way to explain the concept of indirect discrimination is by way of the following 4 examples:

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Example 1

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A factory owner announces that from next month staff cannot wear their hair in dreadlocks, even if the locks are tied back. The decision to introduce the policy could be indirectly discriminatory because of religion or belief, as it puts the employer’s Rastafarian workers at a particular disadvantage. The employer must show that the provision, criterion or practice can be objectively justified.

 

Example 2

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A bus company adopts a policy that drivers on two particular routes must re-sit the theory test. Although this provision is apparently neutral, it turns out that the drivers on these two routes are nearly all women. This could amount to indirect sex discrimination unless the policy can be objectively justified.

 

Example 3

 

The contracts for senior buyers at a department store have a mobility clause requiring them to travel at short notice to any part of the world. A female senior buyer with young children considers that the mobility clause puts women at a disadvantage as they are more likely to be the carers of children and so less likely to be able to travel abroad at short notice. She may challenge the mobility clause even though she has not yet been asked to travel abroad at short notice.

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Example 4

 

At the end of the year, an employer decides to invite seasonal workers employed during the previous summer to claim a bonus within a 30 day time limit. By writing to these workers at their last known address, the employer is liable to disadvantage migrant workers. This is because these workers normally return to their home country during the winter months, and so they are unlikely to apply for the bonus within the specified period. This could amount to indirect race discrimination, unless the practice can be objectively justified.