Equal Opportunities (5): Dealing with other types of discrimination

Dealing with other types of discrimination

You should take your claim to the county court if you have been discriminated against because of your sex, and it was about:

buying or renting a house or flat;
going to school or university; or
buying and using goods or services.

The Equal Opportunities Commission can give you help and advice. It can also advise you how to deal with a complaint, including going to a tribunal or to court.

See ‘Further help’ for contact details.

Going to court

If you want to take a case to court, you must start your case within six months less one day from when the discrimination happened. The court can give you copies of the claim form N1 and more information about procedures.

How to pay for your case

If you are claiming more than £5,000, you need to think carefully about how you will pay for your case, because the costs can be very high. If you cannot afford to pay for court action yourself, there are several ways you may be able to pay for your case:

If your claim is for sex discrimination or equal pay, the Equal Opportunities Commission may take on your case, for example as a ‘test case’.
You may be able to get funding from the Community Legal Service (formerly called Legal Aid), provided you meet certain conditions. See ‘The Community Legal Service’ on further help for how to find out more about this.
You may be able to find a solicitor who will take your case under a ‘no-win, no-fee’ agreement. See the Community Legal Service Direct leaflet ‘No-win, no-fee actions’ for more about this.

The Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act 1998 covers many different types of discrimination – including some that are not covered by other discrimination laws. However, this law can be used only when one of the other ‘articles’ (the specific principles) of the act applies, such as the right to ‘respect for private and family life’.

Also, rights under the Act can be used only against a public authority (for example, the police, a local council or Jobcentre Plus), and not a private company. However, court decisions on discrimination will generally have to take into account what the Human Rights Act says. For more on this, see the Community Legal Service Direct leaflet, ‘The Human Rights Act’.

Discrimination because of your age

There are currently no laws to stop people or organisations from discriminating against you because of your age. At work, for example, employers are allowed to take into account people’s ages when recruiting, or when choosing workers for promotion or redundancy. If you are under 65 and have worked for an organisation for at least two years, you are legally entitled to redundancy pay. But an employer can insist that you retire when you reach a certain age (usually 60 or 65).

The ‘Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment’ is a set of government guidelines about how employers should not discriminate because of age. It is not law, but it sets out what employers should do to be fair to people of all ages in:

recruitment;
promotion;
training;
making staff redundant; and
dealing with retirement.

It covers things like how jobs are advertised and how interviews are carried out. See ‘Further help’ for how to find out more about the Code.

If you are already in work, your employers may also have their own equal opportunities policy which covers age discrimination. If they do, and they don’t follow it, they could be breaking your contract of employment, and you could bring a claim through an employment tribunal or the courts.

Early in 2001 the Government announced it would be introducing laws on age discrimination at work, to keep to the European Union Equal Treatment Directive. This is meant to stop discrimination in all European Union countries. But these new laws are not due to come into force until October 2006.

However, if you think you were dismissed or made redundant unfairly because of your age, you can still take a case of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal or to court under the Employment Rights Act (see ‘Going to an employment tribunal’). If you were a public-sector employee (that is, you worked for the Government or a local council, for example) you may also have a claim under the Human Rights Act (see ‘The Human Rights Act’).

Further help

Community Legal Service Direct

Provides free information, help and advice direct to the public on a range of common legal issues.

Call 0845 345 4 345

Speak to a qualified legal adviser about benefits and tax credits, debt, education, housing or employment or find local advice services for other problems.

Click www.clsdirect.org.uk

Find a quality local legal adviser or solicitor and links to other sources of online information and help.