Employment Law
Discrimination and Equality
A one-day course
This course is aimed at providing a solid grounding in and overview of the scheme of Discrimination law and practice in Great Britain. It is aimed at HR Professionals and line managers and the emphasis throughout is on the practical obligations that an employer has under the equality laws.
The course will be conducted through a series of PowerPoint presentations using real-life examples from the case law to illustrate points. An open and participative style will be adopted throughout with questions and discussion encouraged at each stage
Introduction and welcome
- Overview of discrimination in the UK
- Origins of discrimination law
- Scope of the law in the UK – sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation and age
- Introduction to the key concepts – direct and indirect discrimination
- Victimisation
- Proving discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
- Who is disabled?
- Making reasonable adjustments
- Dealing with disability-related absence
- Stress and disability
- Maternity and family rights
- Dealing with pregnant staff
- Women on maternity leave – the need to keep in touch
- Handling requests to return part-time
- Managing employees with child care responsibilities – key danger areas for managers
- Dignity at work
- What counts as harassment or bullying
- When is the employer liable?
- How managers can be made personally liable
- Risky behaviour – avoiding harassment and bullying claims
- Dealing with complaints from employees
- Case Study Exercise: Religious belief in the workplace
- In a detailed case study that will draw together many of the themes explored earlier in the day delegates will be presented with a hypothetical scenario. An employee alleges that the religious views being expressed by a colleague are offensive and amount to harassment. The task for delegates is to determine how to strike the appropriate balance between the conflicting rights of employees – and minimise the risk of any tribunal claims.
- Key issues in dealing with discrimination
- Responding to complaints of discrimination and harassment
- The relevance and importance of policies on equality and diversity
- The public duty to promote equality: equality schemes