Age Discrimination in the Workplace

by LawBid Team

Have you ever been discriminated against because of your age? Sadly, many people will have experienced age discrimination at some point in their life.

It is generally accepted that people of an older age tend to gain experienced posts within a workplace. However, younger people can feel that they have been unfairly discriminated against if passed up for a job due to their age.

Age discrimination is a well-known issue, but many fail to consider that this discrimination could be aimed at a younger person. Most people assume that age discrimination can only be against an older person.

The Equality Act 2010 and Age Discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 states that a person cannot be discriminated against based on their age group or the range of age that they fall into. In respect to age there are four forms of discrimination:

  • Direct – An example of this form of discrimination is when a person may not get a job due to their age.
  • Indirect – An example of this form of discrimination is if a training course has only been released to a certain age group or range of age.
  • Harassment – This form of discrimination is when a colleague uses a person’s age as a form of insult or the age of a person that they may associate with.
  • Victimisation – This form of discrimination is when a person is passed up for a job but because there has been a dispute or a complaint of age discrimination.

Age discrimination comes in many forms and the above criteria shows just a few examples, but there are also exceptions to two of these forms, indirect and direct. This means that an employer can use their own judgement on whether age must play a factor when looking to recruiting someone or if they can attend a training event.

This does not mean that they can discriminate against a person just because of their age, but more that they are provided with the ability to use their own judgement to employ or train someone if that would be in the person’s best interest. An example of this is that a person may not get a job applied for if the job requires them to sell alcohol but they are under the age of 18. This is justifying the discrimination, however; harassment and victimisation forms of discrimination can never be justified.



If you have been unfairly dismissed or experienced harassment at work because of your age, find out how a LawBid solicitor could help you to claim compensation.