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Age discrimination

All teachers and education professionals have specific protection from discrimination at work on grounds of age under the Equality Act 2010. 

Discrimination claim time limits

You are protected regardless of your age. Discrimination because you are perceived as being a particular age, or because you associate with someone who is a particular age, will be unlawful. You are protected whether you are a permanent, fixed-term, full-time, part-time, supply or agency teacher.

Your colleagues, managers and governors are prohibited from discriminating against you. If you are an agency worker on a day-to-day or longer term contract, your agency and the hirers for whom you are working are prohibited from discriminating against you.

What age discrimination is

Treating you less favourably in similar circumstances than another colleague on grounds of your actual or apparent age, or because you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s or 70s, would be direct age discrimination, unless the employer can justify it.

Applying to all staff a workplace provision or practice, that you and other colleagues of the same age cannot comply with because of your age, would be indirect age discrimination if it puts you at a disadvantage, unless the employer can justify it.

Employers are permitted to discriminate on grounds of age where they can justify the less favourable treatment, or the impact of the practice, or rule on you or your age group. For example, employment benefits related to service of no more than five years are permitted.

What is covered

You are protected from age discrimination before, during and after your employment. There should be no unlawful discrimination in recruitment including advertisements, shortlisting and interview procedures; pay; terms and conditions of employment; access to training; opportunities for promotion; transfers; dismissals; and after your employment has ended, for example, in the provision of references.

Examples

A refusal to shortlist a worker in their 50s for a vacancy on grounds that they were not in the first five years of their career would be discrimination; the requirement would disadvantage older workers and is unlikely to be justifiable.

It would be direct age discrimination to select a teacher or education professional for redundancy on the ground that s/he was over 60.

Similarly, to force an older person to retire on cost-saving grounds would be direct age discrimination. Retirement is not a fair reason to dismiss, and cost-saving would not be sufficient to justify such a decision.

What is not covered

Treatment that is nothing to do with your age, which the employer can show is wholly and genuinely for a non-discriminatory reason, or treatment which lawfully can be justified by the employer, will not be unlawful. Treatment that you might feel is unfair will not necessarily be discriminatory.

Your employer is permitted to set a pay scale related to service of five years or less.

Selection criterion for redundancy such as ‘last in, first out’ may disadvantage younger workers but might be lawful if the objective of the practice is to address the disadvantage experienced by older workers in the labour market.

Employers may use 'positive action' to encourage applications for vacancies from groups of people who are under-represented in the workforce or at a particular grade in the workforce. Employers may use ‘tie-break’ provisions to appoint an individual from an under-represented group if two candidates are as qualified as each other for a post. Contact the NEU if you need advice on an employer's use of positive action.

Employers sometimes specify that it is an occupational requirement for a post to be held by an individual with a particular equality characteristic. This option is rarely used in the education sector, but contact the NEU if you think that it has been used inappropriately to your disadvantage.

What you should do

If you think you have been discriminated against, Gather all the written evidence that you have for example job adverts, letters, emails and relevant screenshots. Keep a diary of all incidents of less favourable treatment including dates, times, places, the names of any witnesses and your response to the conduct or behaviour.

It is not always immediately clear whether certain treatment is on grounds of age or for some other genuine reason, so it is sensible to record all the treatment you are concerned about. The employer may or may not intend to discriminate against you or may try to cover up discrimination against you. The employer should work with the union to find out the real reason for the treatment, to stop the treatment if it is discriminatory and to secure appropriate action, for example, to obtain a full written apology or to secure a pay award that you have been denied.

Ask your workplace rep or school or college office for copies of relevant workplace policies, for example, pay policies, capability procedures, redundancy policies. The NEU urges all employers to adopt policies and procedures which prohibit unlawful discrimination and which allow employers to identify and tackle any discrimination fairly and quickly.

Discuss your concerns with your workplace rep. Your colleagues may have made similar complaints and you may be advised to tackle the issue with them collectively.

You or your rep might decide to contact the union for further advice. The NEU will be able to advise what steps you should take. You may be advised to lodge a formal grievance or to lodge a collective grievance with your colleagues. This may resolve the issue. In rare cases you may be advised to take the matter to an employment tribunal. The objective in all cases will be to stop any discrimination and allow you to continue working in a professional environment free from discrimination.

Discrimination or harassment making you ill

Follow the advice above on gathering information and seeking advice. Keep a record of how you believe discriminatory treatment or harassment has affected your health, e.g. your symptoms and any absences from work. You are advised to see your GP and to let your employer know in writing that the treatment at work is affecting your health. 

The union can help you write this letter. If you believe that the stress of discrimination or harassment at work has led to depression, an anxiety disorder or psychosis, you may be suffering from a recognised psychiatric illness. If so, you should seek immediate advice from the union.

What your employer or agency should do

If you complain about discrimination, your employer or agency should investigate your complaint, stop any discrimination, take appropriate action to prevent it from happening again to you or someone else. Employers in the education sector should comply with the public sector equality duty to eliminate discrimination and advance equality.

If the employer treats you worse after raising the issue

You should contact your workplace rep if you are subjected to detrimental treatment in retaliation or as punishment for raising a complaint of discrimination. This is called 'victimisation' and is prohibited by the Equality Act.

What more you can do

Employers in the education sector have a statutory duty to be proactive in eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity for staff and pupils. They must assess the impact of their policies and procedures on the people affected by them and take steps to remove any barriers that come to light where it is proportionate to do so. Contact your workplace rep, branch secretary or local equality officer if you want to get involved in reviewing the equality impact of policies and procedures in your workplace.

Make sure that you receive information about NEU equality events and conferences and about the equality constituency seat elections for the national executive. If you have not told the union about your ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability status, you may miss out on important information. 

Update your membership details to ensure you are fully informed. your membership details to ensure you are fully informed. The information that you provide will remain strictly confidential. The data will form the basis of anonymous statistical reports which will help identify trends in workplaces and barriers to participation in the union's structures.

You are not alone in this union

When you read through this document you may have questions about what happens in your particular school or workplace, and there may be collective issues that affect other members. In most circumstances, you should initially discuss the matter with your workplace rep, as they will know whether similar concerns have been raised by other members. If you do not have a rep at the moment, it would be a good idea to get members together to elect one

Although you may sometimes feel that you are the only person affected by or concerned about a particular issue, in reality this is seldom the case. Any difficulties you may experience are likely to be linked to wider conditions at your workplace and as a member of the NEU you have the advantage of being able to act collectively with your colleagues. This should give you the confidence of knowing that you have the weight of the union behind you. 

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