04. Discrimination at work

It's unlawful for an employer to discriminate against you because of your race, when choosing someone for a job, and when deciding which staff will be:

• promoted;
• given benefits at work, such as training;
• dismissed; or
• made redundant.

The law also protects you against harassment at work, see 'Racial harassment' below for more details.

Applying for a job
It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against you because of your race when choosing someone for a job. It covers three areas:

• When deciding who should be offered the job. This includes the job description, the 'person specification' (the description of the skills, experience and qualifications needed to do the job), the application form, the short-listing process, interviewing and final selection.
• The terms of the employment contract, such as pay, holidays or working conditions.
• By deliberately not considering your application.

Refusing you a job because of your race would be direct discrimination. But if your employer will not let you work different hours, or wear different clothing for reasons to do with your ethnic group, without a good reason, you may have a claim for indirect discrimination. An employment tribunal would have to decide whether what the employer did was fair or not.

The Race Relations Act covers contract, self-employed and part-time workers as well as full-time or permanent staff. It also applies to recruitment agencies, unions and professional bodies which award qualifications.

When an employer is allowed to discriminate
For a few types of job, employers are allowed to make a person’s race a 'genuine occupational qualification' (GOQ). For example:

• acting in plays or films;
• certain jobs in cafes or restaurants; or
• for personal welfare services to people of a particular racial group.

The Commission for Racial Equality can advise you on whether a GOQ is likely to apply to a job or not, and on whether a job advertisement which mentions race is lawful.

The Race Relations Act may not cover you if you work for a private household, or jobs where you have to work outside Great Britain all of the time.

For some jobs, it's unlawful to discriminate because of your colour, but lawful to discriminate because of your nationality. For example, for some jobs where the Crown is the employer, you must be a British citizen.

Being dismissed or made redundant
An employer must not racially discriminate when dismissing people or making them redundant. This means that, for example, if you're dismissed for often being late but someone of a different race with equally bad timekeeping is not, that could be direct racial discrimination.