The law forbids discriminating against someone on the grounds of their race as well as colour, ethnic or national origin, religion, religious belief/political opinion (N. Ireland only), sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment or disability. Also included in the list is any discrimination in circumstances of pregnancy, maternity, paternity, adoption or parental status.

The law prohibits direct discrimination i.e. adverts saying “men only- no women”, and indirect discrimination where a requirement, i.e. “must have a driving licence”, will adversely affect more women that men or vice versa and which is not related to the job. For example if it does not involve driving but as more men than women hold driving licences it would indirectly disadvantage more women than men.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relation Act 1976 both allow affirmative action but forbid positive discrimination. The same could be said to be true of the other acts affecting discrimination with the exception of that regarding disability, which allows positive discrimination in some roles and also does not provide a mechanism for a non-disabled person to claim that they have been discriminated against because they are not disabled.

Affirmative action is where, perhaps from equal opportunities monitoring, you have identified an imbalance, such that one particular group is under represented in your workforce. Having identified that situation your recruitment advertising can be “targeted” at that group by including in your advertisement words to the effect “…we welcome applications from suitably skilled applicants regardless of ethnicity, gender, disability, sexuality, religion or age…” You would also consider carefully where the advert should be placed for maximum exposure to your target audience.

You are then required to process applications in a proper, non-discriminatory fashion, with the best candidate regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, etc, being offered the job. Over time this process will correct the imbalance.

What you cannot do is practice positive discrimination, which would be to limit your advertising to one specific group and select an individual from that group to be offered the role because they are of that race, sex, ethnicity etc.

Bodies which do practice positive discrimination in employment practices are normally acting illegally and should always bear in mind that discrimination in favour of one group is always discrimination against all other groups. It is likely to lead to unrest and discrimination claims from them.

As you state you only currently employ British Indian staff, unless it is for the purpose of “authenticity” in running an Indian restaurant or for roles in plays or films requiring such a person, you are likely to be breaking the law and need to carryout an equal opportunities monitoring exercise.

Review your equal opportunities policy, stop your current policy immediately and conduct a non-discriminatory recruitment policy from now. You should also consider very carefully whether to use an affirmative action plan to correct your current imbalance.

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