When unfair treatment at work is because of who you are, it may be unlawful discrimination. Here's what the law protects — and how to challenge it.
Being treated unfairly at work is distressing. When that unfairness is because of who you are, it may be unlawful discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 is the key piece of legislation that protects you from discrimination in the workplace.
This guide explains the nine "protected characteristics" that are covered by the law and the four main types of discrimination you can challenge.
The law only protects you from discrimination if the unfair treatment is because of one of these nine specific characteristics.
Being treated unfairly because you are "too old" or "too young." It protects all age groups.
Example: You are overlooked for a promotion in favour of a younger colleague with less experience because your manager assumes you are "nearing retirement and less ambitious."
You are protected if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. Employers also have a legal duty to make "reasonable adjustments" to help disabled employees do their job — a failure to do so can itself be discrimination.
Example: You are dismissed for sickness absence which is related to your disability.
This protects you if you are treated unfairly because you are transitioning from one gender to another, have transitioned, or are proposing to do so. You do not need to have undergone any medical procedure to be protected.
Example: A colleague repeatedly and deliberately uses your former name or pronoun after you have transitioned.
You are protected from being treated unfairly because you are married or in a civil partnership.
Example: You are made redundant over an unmarried colleague because your employer assumes your partner earns a good salary and you are "less in need of the job."
This protects you from unfavourable treatment because you are pregnant, have a pregnancy-related illness, or are on maternity leave.
Example: You are selected for redundancy because you are on maternity leave. This is almost always an act of automatic unfair dismissal and discrimination.
You are protected from unfair treatment because of your race, which includes your colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origins.
Example: You are subjected to "banter" or jokes about your nationality which you find offensive.
This protects you from being treated unfairly because of your religious or philosophical beliefs (or your lack of a particular belief).
Example: A team social event is always held at a pub on a Friday night, which excludes employees whose religion forbids them from consuming alcohol or requires them to attend a Mosque.
This means being treated unfairly because you are a man or a woman.
Example: A manager makes sexist comments, stating that a female colleague was only promoted because of her looks.
You are protected from being treated unfairly because of your sexual orientation, whether you are bisexual, gay, heterosexual, or lesbian.
Example: You are not invited to client events because your manager feels it would be "uncomfortable" for clients to see you with your same-sex partner.
It is not enough to have a protected characteristic; you must also show that you have suffered one of these four types of discrimination.
The most obvious form. It means being treated less favourably than someone else because of a protected characteristic.
Example: A man is promoted over a woman with better qualifications because the hiring manager believes "men make better leaders." The woman has been treated less favourably because of her sex.
More subtle. It happens when an employer applies a rule, policy, or practice to everyone, but it has the effect of putting people with a particular protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.
Example: A company requires all employees to work full-time from the office. This policy is applied to everyone, but it could indirectly discriminate against women, who are statistically more likely to have primary childcare responsibilities.
Unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for you.
Example: Colleagues make repeated, offensive "jokes" about your age, even after you have asked them to stop.
Being treated badly or being subjected to a detriment because you have made or supported a complaint about discrimination. This is known as a "protected act."
Example: You act as a witness for a colleague's race discrimination grievance. A month later, you are unfairly given a poor performance review and denied a bonus.
Direct discrimination is wider than most people realise. The law protects you in three situations that are easy to miss.
You do not need to have the protected characteristic yourself. If you are treated badly because of someone you are connected to — for example, your disabled child or your partner's religion — that can still be direct discrimination.
Real case: in Coleman v Attridge Law, an employee won her claim after being treated badly because she was the main carer for her disabled son — even though she was not disabled herself.
How to frame it: "Section 13 direct disability discrimination by association." Your comparator is a colleague in a similar role who does not have a disabled child.
You are protected if your employer treats you badly because they assume you have a protected characteristic — even if they are wrong.
Real case: in Chief Constable of Norfolk v Coffey, a police officer won her claim after being refused a transfer because the force assumed her mild hearing loss would become a disability — she was not disabled at the time.
How to frame it: "Section 13 direct discrimination by perception." What matters is what your employer believed, not the reality.
Sometimes the discrimination is about a combination of characteristics — for example, being treated badly as a Black woman, rather than because of race or sex alone.
Watch out: Section 14 of the Equality Act (combined discrimination) was written but never brought into force, so it cannot be relied on by itself. The safe approach is to bring separate, concurrent claims — direct race discrimination and direct sex discrimination — and argue the combination in the alternative.
Disability has two additional, powerful protections that go beyond the four main types.
This covers being treated unfavourably because of something caused by your disability — not the disability itself. Crucially, you do not need a comparator: you only have to show the link between your disability, the "something" that arose from it, and the bad treatment.
Example: you have MS, which causes severe fatigue, and you are dismissed for taking six weeks of sick leave. The employer says it was "absence rates," not disability. Your claim is: the sick leave (the "something") arose from your MS (the disability), and dismissal was the unfavourable treatment.
The employer's two defences: they can argue they did not know (and could not reasonably have known) about your disability — which is why putting your condition in writing matters — or that the treatment was a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim. Dismissal without first considering adjustments is very hard to defend as proportionate.
Employers must take reasonable steps to remove the disadvantages a disabled employee faces. The duty is triggered three ways:
Failing to make a reasonable adjustment is discrimination in its own right — and an employer's failure to adjust often undermines their defence to other claims too.
Discrimination claims can name more than just the company. Your employer is usually vicariously liable for anything its employees did in the course of their work — even if senior management knew nothing about it. The individual who discriminated against you can also be held personally liable, and naming them changes the dynamics of the case.
Read the dedicated guide: who to name in your claim — and the traps to avoid.
The burden of proof in discrimination cases shifts once you establish basic facts. Learn how tribunals actually decide these claims.
How discrimination is provedA well-structured grievance creates the official record your case depends on. Anticipate the tactics before they happen.
The Grievance Survival ToolkitStrict three-month time limits apply. Understand the full tribunal process before the clock runs out.
The Employment Tribunal Preparation ToolkitThe company is usually vicariously liable — but naming the individual wrongdoer can be decisive. Learn the rules before you file.
Who to Name in Your Claim