The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against workers because of their sex or because they are married.  On 1^st October 2010 the government introduced the Equality Act which made it unlawful for employers to discriminate against workers because of “protected characteristics”, sex and being married being two of the characteristics. We are currently producing an updated version of this factsheet, contact us to request updated information when it is available.

The law covers workers from their first day of employment.  It does not matter whether they work full or part-time, or whether they are on a casual or temporary contract.  Workers are also protected if they have been told they are self-employed but in fact do work personally for someone else and are not doing it for a client or customer as part of their profession or business.  This means, for example, that many agency workers and homeworkers are protected.  The law provides protection to you if you are discriminated against in the context of your position as a partner within a company, a member of a trade union, a member of a professional body, and a member of an institution which issues qualifications that are required to carry out a particular trade or profession.

Most cases of sex or marital discrimination are taken by women and so the rest of this leaflet assumes that the person affected is a woman.  For information on equal pay for women and men see our “Equal Pay” factsheet which deals with issues of sex discrimination in terms of pay and other contractual matters.

Types of discrimination

There are two types of sex discrimination:

Direct discrimination: this is where an employer treats you less favourably than a man would be treated.  For example, where an employer is recruiting to a job and decides that they will not employ you because you might get pregnant.

Indirect discrimination: this is more complicated.  It is where an employer apparently treats all groups of workers equally but the effect of certain provisions, criteria or practices imposed by the employer have an adverse disproportionate impact on one particular group, and this requirement cannot be justified by the employer.

So, for example, if your employer said that they would only accept applications for a job from full-time workers, and all the part-time workers were women, then this would be indirect discrimination, since a criterion would have been applied which would have affected many more women than men.  An employer would find it very hard to justify imposing this criterion.  Another example could be if your employer required you to work shifts or alter your hours.  This could be indirect discrimination because it is likely to affect more women because of their domestic responsibilities including childcare.  An employer might be able to justify this discrimination on the grounds that it was necessary to efficiently run his/her business.

What you are protected against

There are many employment areas in which you have a right not be discriminated against because of your sex or marital status. These include:

Recruitment and promotion

Sex discrimination in recruitment can include the arrangements made by the employer in deciding who should be offered a job (eg. where you are asked discriminatory questions at an interview or in an application form); not being offered a job; or being offered a job but on less favourable terms than others employed doing the same or similar jobs (eg. not given free accommodation or meals).  You are also protected against discrimination when applying for promotion (eg. where a man is promoted into a managerial job because the employer thinks that he will fit into the existing male dominated culture of senior management).

Dismissal and redundancy

You are protected against being dismissed or being selected for redundancy because of your sex.

Access to work opportunities

You are protected against being discriminated against in access to work opportunities such as training, redeployment, transfer and offers to work overtime.

Dress codes at work

In some cases, protection can extend to employers having different rules for women and men about their clothes or appearance at work.

The law also protects particular groups of workers:

Women who are pregnant or on maternity leave: If your employer treats you less favourably because of a reason connected to pregnancy or maternity leave then you are protected under sex discrimination law.  If you are dismissed for a reason related to your pregnancy or maternity leave then you are also protected by unfair dismissal law.

Part-time workers: If you are treated less favourably because you work part-time then this could amount to sex discrimination.  But you might also be protected under a specific law which covers part-time workers.  Further information on this law is in our factsheet "Part-time workers' rights"

Trans people: Sex discrimination law protects you against discrimination because you have undergone gender reassignment or are in the process of undergoing gender reassignment or you intend to undergo gender reassignment.

Gay men and lesbians and bisexuals:  The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 make it unlawful to discriminate against workers because of their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.  Further information on this law is in our factsheet “Sexual Orientation Discrimination”.

Sexual Harassment

The Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for employers to subject a woman or a man to sexual harassment.  It is also unlawful to harass someone because they intend to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment.

There are two types of sexual harassment:

1. Unwanted conduct on the grounds of your sex:

You must be able to show that the treatment you are receiving is because you are a woman (or a man). An example of this could be if you are being bullied at work and the harasser would not treat someone of the opposite sex in this way. The conduct does not have to be of a sexual nature for this form of harassment.

1. 2. Unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature:

If the conduct is of a sexual nature, this is unlawful in itself and you do not have to compare yourself to how somebody of the opposite sex would be treated.  This could include:

• Comments about the way you look which you find demeaning
• Indecent remarks, including sexual teasing or suggestive remarks
• Questions about your sex life
• Sexual demands by a member of your own or opposite sex

(Incidents involving touching and other physical threats are criminal offences and should also be reported to the police).

With regards to both forms of sexual harassment, the conduct must be done with the purpose of, or have the effect of, violating your dignity, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you.

What you can do

If you are being harassed you may wish to consider taking the following actions:

• make it clear that the behaviour or remarks are unwanted/unacceptable to you and ask the harasser to stop;
• keep a written record of all the things that have happened with times and dates if possible.  It also helps to have witnesses who can support your complaint;
• report it to your manager, or to a higher manager or human resources/personnel department;
• if you are a union member you should also report it to the union;
• if the harasser is involved with the management or union, or if you are afraid of reporting it, contact us or any of the other organisations listed at the end of this factsheet;
• check whether other women have been harassed in the same way; they might provide support for you;
• lodge a grievance by sending a  grievance letter to your employer; see our factsheet on Grievances for guidance on how to do this;
• make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal. You do not have to lodge a grievance with your employer first, but any compensation you may be awarded may be reduced by up to 25% unless it would be unreasonable to expect you to have raised a grievance first.

Responsibility of the employer

Employers can be responsible if an employee does something during their employment which is discriminatory.  The employer can be liable even if the employee acts without the employer's knowledge or approval.  This liability can be very important, especially in sexual harassment cases where the discriminatory treatment is being done by an employee without the employer knowing.  Also, employers can be personally liable if they knowingly help another person commit a discriminatory act.

It is against sex discrimination law to instruct or put pressure on or induce someone to discriminate against a worker on the basis of sex.  An example would be where an employer instructs an employment agency not to interview women for particular job vacancies.  Only the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) can take cases on this basis so if you have been treated in this way you would need to contact the EHRC; see below for contact details.

Sex discrimination law protects you against being victimised because you have taken action of any kind alleging sex discrimination, or have supported someone else in your workplace who has claimed sex discrimination.

Enforcement of your rights

Your rights under sex discrimination law are statutory rights and if they are breached you can take a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.  Depending on the nature of your complaint you should first of all send a grievance letter to the employer; see our factsheet on Grievances for guidance on how to do this.

Getting Help

Besides ourselves there are other organisations that can help you:

Equality & Human Rights Commission advises on all types of discrimination; call on 08456 046610 or visit the website www.equalityhumanrights.com.

Law Centres and Citizen Advice Bureaux (CAB): contact Community Legal Services (CLS) on 08456 081122 to find the nearest advice service to you.

CLS direct gives advice by telephone; call 08453 454345.

Trade unions: If you are a member of a trade union, they should be able to help you. If you don't belong to a union, but would like information about which one would be best for you, ring North West TUC on 0151 236 5432.

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS): ACAS will be able to provide you with information regarding the law and employment issues 08457 47 47 47.

This fact sheet is intended as a general guide and is not a full statement of the law.  Please seek advice before taking any action.

Nov 2010

If you need more information about pay and employment rights, contact

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service

Phone: 0161 839 3888 fax: 0161 839 3883

or write to us at

4^th Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW

We provide telephone advice only and cannot see people face to face

or visit our website: www.gmemploymentrights.org.uk

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service is an independent research and information body funded by all local authorities in Greater Manchester under the AGMA grants scheme