Age Discrimination Solicitors

Age discrimination solicitors can help with age discrimination issues in the workplace.

Age discrimination is one of the main forms of discrimination that employees and workers are protected from under employment law.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employees are protected from discrimination and are entitled to seek legal action against their employer where discrimination has occurred.

Any discrimination case will centre around whether you have been treated unfavourably or suffered any disadvantage because of the discrimination you’ve been subjected to.

To be connected to a specialist employment solicitor near to where you live, please either call us now on 0845 1391399 or complete a Free Online Enquiry.

Age Discrimination At Work

Age discrimination at work isn’t an easy situation to address.

Age is one of the protected characteristics that are specifically outlined in the Equality Act 2010, along with sex, maternity and pregnancy, race, religion or belief, disabilities, sexual orientation, sexual harassment, marriage, and civil partnership.

Age discrimination is often misinterpreted as specifically being where one person is preferred over another purely because of age.

Now, while that might be an example of age discrimination, it’s not the only way in which age discrimination might happen. In fact, the age difference could be just a few years when it comes to an age discrimination case.

Perhaps someone was preferred over another for a promotion where the person who feels aggrieved is in their 40s and the one who was offered the role is 50. A common instance of age discrimination is those over 60 not being offered a role or being treated differently because of this – perhaps because their employer thinks that they’ll be retiring at some point soon.

Age discrimination is often called ageism and it isn’t always as obvious as you think.

For example, if someone discriminates against you because they think you belong to a certain age group but you don’t (perhaps you’re 35 but you look younger), then them making a decision based on this could be ageism.

If you were due to be selected to lead a pitch for a new client but your employer chooses someone else because they want someone who looks more mature, then this is still classed as discrimination.

How Does The Discrimination Grievance Process Work?

If you feel that you’ve been the victim of age discrimination, the first step should be to raise a grievance with your employer.

Once you raise a formal grievance, your employer must follow a strict process that involves an investigation followed by an initial grievance meeting.

After that, they must follow the process as outlined below:

You raise a grievance with your employer to see if you can resolve the issue without any formal action
If you’re unable to resolve it, then write to your employer and inform them of your decision to raise a formal grievance, outlining your reasons for doing so
You’ll then have a grievance meeting once all evidence has been collated and the investigation has been concluded
An outcome will be reached, and you’ll be given the opportunity to appeal any decision if you disagree with it
If you still feel that you haven’t reached the outcome you were looking for, you might consider taking the case to an employment tribunal