Information & advice

It’s not always easy to spot age discrimination, as there are several kinds, some of which are subtle and unintentional: 

Direct discrimination

Indirect discrimination

Harassment

Victimisation

Instructions to discriminate

 

Here are some examples of these different types of discrimination:

Direct discrimination

This means treating someone less favourably because of their age, or because of the age they appear to be.

For example…

• A company refuses to recruit a person, simply because they’re over 50.
• An organisation has a practice of only promoting people under the age of 50 to senior positions.

Indirect discrimination

This means having a policy or practice which puts people of a certain age group at a disadvantage, compared with other people.

For example…

• A company restricts recruitment to recent graduates –fewer older people would be able to meet this requirement.
• A firm introduces a fitness test which all employees are required to pass. This could be indirect discrimination if fewer older employees are likely to be able to pass the test. However, it may be possible for the firm to justify this policy. They would have to show that the testing policy was necessary to achieve health and safety aims, and that there was no less discriminatory way of achieving these aims.

Under the new law, direct and indirect discrimination will be unlawful unless the employer can justify the discrimination, or an exemption applies.

Harassment

Harassment, or bullying, based on someone’s age will be unlawful under the new law.  The legal meaning of harassment is: unwanted conduct, on the grounds of age, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. 

It will also be unlawful to harass someone on the grounds of the age of someone they associate with. 

For example…

• An older worker’s colleagues repeatedly make jokes about them at work, based on their age, which the person finds offensive.
• Someone has a partner who is significantly younger than them, and this is the basis of repeated comments and jokes from colleagues.  This could be unlawful if the person finds it humiliating or offensive.

If you make a complaint of harassment to the employment tribunal, they will consider whether it was reasonable for you to be offended in the circumstances. So if someone is seen to have taken offence unreasonably, the tribunal can decide that the behaviour was not unlawful.

Victimisation

This has a very specific meaning under discrimination law. Victimisation means being treated unfairly as a result of making a complaint of age discrimination, or giving evidence when somebody else complains of age discrimination.

For example…

• An employee is dismissed after complaining that they are not receiving the same training as younger colleagues, because of their age.
• A worker is passed over for a promotion that they otherwise would have got, because they made a witness statement supporting a colleague’s complaint of age discrimination. 

Unlike direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation can never be justified by an employer.

Instructions to discriminate

If an employer instructs an employee to do something which would amount to age discrimination, it will be unlawful for the employer to treat that employee unfairly because they refuse to carry out the instruction, or because they complain about the instruction. 

For example…

An employee involved in a recruitment decision is disciplined for not carrying out the employer’s instruction to only invite people under age 40 for a job interview.

 

Free mini-guide to age discrimination at work

You can download all the information in this section in our mini-guide to age discrimination, or you can order a copy  from our freephone Information Line on 0800 00 99 66.

Find out more about the age discrimination law

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