4 Mediating corporate power through public institutions

As discussed previously, The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination under the protected characteristics:

• age
• disability
• sex
• gender reassignment
• marriage, or civil partnership (in employment only)
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation.

Protected characteristics are aspects of personal identity that make the person who they are. The legislation means that employers should not unfairly treat people due to protected characteristics. It covers:

• businesses and organisations which provide goods or services like banks, shops and utility companies
• health and care providers like hospitals and care homes
• someone you rent or buy a property from like housing associations and estate agents
• schools, colleges and other education providers
• transport services like buses, trains and taxis
• public bodies like government departments and local authorities.

Unfair treatment or discrimination can be direct, indirect or by association or perception. Direct discrimination occurs when you are treated worse than another person or other people because: you have a protected characteristic; someone thinks you have that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by perception), and you are connected to someone with that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by association). Indirect discrimination happens when a policy applies the same way for everybody but disadvantages a group with protected characteristics. If this happens, the person or organisation using the policy must show a good reason. For example, on rare occasions, an employer can demonstrate that an employee needs to have a particular characteristic to do a specific job.

The legislation also covers victimisation and harassment. Harassment is unwanted behaviour that the person at the receiving end finds offensive. In the context of the legislation, harassment arises when the perpetrator targets a victim because they have a protected characteristic or are perceived to have a protected characteristic. Unwanted behaviour could include: spoken or written abuse, offensive emails, comments on websites and social media, images and graffiti, physical gestures, facial expressions, and humour that is offensive to you. Victimisation in this context refers to a situation where you are mistreated because you (a person with a protected characteristic) complained about discrimination, or because you helped and supported a person with a protected characteristic being discriminated against.