Discrimination
By Srijana Bhetwal
Direct discrimination is when a person treats, or proposes to treat, someone with a protected personal characteristic unfavourably because of that personal characteristic. Direct discrimination often happens because people make unfair assumptions about what people with certain personal characteristics can and cannot do
For example, refusing to employ someone because of their se
Indirect discrimination occurs when an unreasonable requirement, condition or practice that purports to treat everyone the same ends up either actually, or potentially, disadvantaging someone with a personal characteristic protected by the law
Discrimination can also become systemic when entrenched, structural and sometimes institutional patterns of behaviour or actions affect a range of people. These behaviours and actions are often part of organisational culture and are reinforced by policies or procedures. If an organisation receives a lot of complaints about the same or similar issues, it might be a result of systemic discrimination.
For example, a requirement for employees to work 12-hour shifts may appear to treat everyone equally. However, it may have disadvantage employees with family or caring responsibilities.
