Equal At Work
Justifying Discrimination

Where indirect discrimination (or direct age discrimination) can be justified, the employer has to show that the discrimination is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

  • The aim must amount to a real need e.g. a business need such as encouraging and rewarding loyalty; or ensuring health, welfare and safety of employees and public.

This requires an objective test to justify the discrimination:

  • Does the means (what they are doing) achieve the aim?
  • Are the means appropriate (is there no reasonable alternative?)
  • Is it proportionate – balance the effect of discrimination against the aim itself

Examples:

  • Where a long and expensive training process is needed before starting a job, it could be justifiable to not recruit people over 60.
  • Saving costs alone (eg the expense of a personal assistant for a disabled employee) will not necessarily be justifiable.
  • Not providing prayer rooms due to lack of space and expense of refurbishment, could be justifiable.




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