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Age discrimination has been a hot topic within the workforce for many years. Discrimination is often open to interpretation and can take on many forms.

Being treated different to others or just overthinking?

A recent case occurred where Ms Stunell, a teenage apprentice working at a hairdressers, found herself in a situation where she felt due to her age she was being discriminated in the work place by a colleague.

The reasoning behind Ms Stunell’s belief that she was facing age discrimination, was that when she was unwell at work comments were made to her such as “grow up” and “pull yourself together.” She also claimed that she had been excluded from a business related trip and did not feel she was given the correct breaks she was entitled to in the day compared to her other (older) colleagues.

However, even though Ms Stunell felt strongly that she had been discriminated by her work place in connection with her age, so much so that she proceeded to issue her claims in the employment tribunal, the tribunal held that all the claims should be dismissed.

The tribunal was of the view that the salon was supportive of Ms Stunell’s difficult home life, which was the reason for her lack of attendance, lateness and bad timekeeping. The tribunal also held that any other colleague would have been treated the same, regardless of their age.

The Law

The main law that covers discrimination is the Equality Act 2010 and it protects against discrimination due to the following protected characteristics:

• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marriage and civil partnership;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race;
• religion or belief;
• sex;
• sexual orientation.

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from being treated less favourably as a result of these characteristics.

Age Discrimination

Part 2 of the Equality Act 2010 focuses on protecting all individuals in the workplace that are involved in an employment contract in any way, such as employment, occupation and even apprenticeship, against age discrimination.

There are two types of age discrimination that could take place which are direct discrimination and indirect discrimination.

• Direct Discrimination is where someone is treated less favourably solely due to their age without anything being done about it
• Indirect Discrimination is where the employer has a certain provision in place in the workplace that has an adverse effect on workers in one age group than those in another without any justification for it.

If a claim of age discrimination is successful then the tribunal will award compensation for injury to feelings.

Examples of Age Discrimination

Age discrimination can take form in many different ways such as:

• Setting an upper or lower age limit for a particular job may be direct discrimination against a person outside the age band;
• Saying comments or insults relating to age;
• Being isolated or left out of an activity that others are not due to your age;
• Being rejected from a new position or promotion based on your age being the issue.

Employers being mindful

There is always a risk of age discrimination occurring in the workplace, so employers need to be aware of precautions that could prevent such events from happening, and ways to resolve situations that may have already occurred.

If the employer enforces any provisions or criterion then the employer must be able to justify the existence of it, especially if there is an outcome of age discrimination in the workplace.

Employers must always be mindful of how events at work could potentially affect people. They could do this by talking to all the employees, receiving employee input on what is happening in the workplace, and asking if anything needs to change from the employee(s) perspective. 

Employers can also ensure there is a comfortable environment for employees to discuss potential age discrimination in the workplace, and create a safe environment for any issues to be resolved before they escalate too far.

Contact our Employment Discrimination Lawyers 

For further advice in relation to employment matters including discrimination issues contact a member of our specialist employment team today on 020 8 363 4444.

Written by: Claudia Cuffaro