Under the Equality Act 2010, ‘age’ is one of the protected characteristics. Consequently, if you are treating someone unfairly at work because of their age, you are breaking the law.
Age discrimination is one of the most common forms of unfair treatment at work. Therefore, ACAS have published a new guidance to help employers prevent age discrimination in the workplace.
As HR consultants and Employment lawyers, we receive numerous calls from clients asking about other protected characteristics such as disability, sex and race but it is rare we will receive questions on age. It is important to remember that not discriminating against someone’s age is equally as important as the other protected characteristics.
The most common areas where age discrimination occurs is within recruitment, training and promotion and retirement.
There are several ways in which to limit the possibility of age discrimination. For example, if you are advertising for a job role, request the specific type of experience you require opposed to the amount of years’ experience.
Please see below a link to ACAS’ Age Discrimination: Top 10 Myths – an interesting read!
http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/p/l/Age_discrimination_top_ten_myths.pdf
With there being no cap on the amount of compensation awarded to Claimant’s, if you have any issues in relation to age discrimination or any other HR or Employment Law issue we urge you to get in touch!! Please contact us on 0115 870 0150 or hello@yourhrlawyer.co.uk.
