Government Legislation

2. Discrimination

Tahir Hussain’s example of discrimination is a very good one. He was unemployed and was well qualified.  He’d applied for numerous jobs, but was not getting any offers for an interview. He was quite upset by this and so decided to test the system. He sent in two application forms to every business he originally sent applications in for, one with his own name, and the other one saying that it was from a white middle aged lady. What he found out was that the white lady received far more offers of an interview than he did. He launched 12 claims of race discrimination and won 4 of them, and partly won 5 more.

3. Employment

Employees working under a contract of employment are protected against unfair dismissal.

The EU is a major influence on employment law. Recent examples include:

• Limiting working time to a normal maximum of 48 hour hours per week.
• Giving employees the right to unpaid leave following the birth of a child
• Ensuring equal treatment for part-time staff