As you may know, people with certain characteristics can be suffer discrimination. One of the characteristics is race. 
Race is defined widely in the equality legislation to include race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin. This means that white people can suffer discrimination in the same way as minority groups.
And here’s a recent example:
What happened?
In a government review, it was found that the Cheshire Police force comprised more than 1,400 white officers with only five Asian, four of mixed race, and no black officers.
So, in 2015, they launched a campaign to boost diversity. For example, they appointed a ‘positive action’ adviser to drive LGBT recruitment on social media, and held recruiting days at pride events, faith centres and Sikh temples.
In September 2017, 25-year-old Matthew Furlong was among 675 people who applied to become constables in the Cheshire Police force. (Matthew’s father, Liam, already worked there as a detective inspector.)
After getting shortlisted and passing challenging tests, Matthew and 182 others were invited to interview in November. His interview went well, and one of the interviewers said he was “refreshingly well prepared”.
However, Matthew was among 34 white, male, non-disabled candidates who were rejected while all black candidates were offered roles.
Matthew felt he was better qualified than some of those other applicants because, for example, he has a degree in particle physics. He believed he was turned down unlawfully simply because the Acting Chief Constable wanted more diversity.
So, in April 2018, Matthew made a claim to the employment tribunal.
They unanimously found he had been discriminated against, saying that he would have been offered a position had the force not applied ‘positive action’. Judge Grundy criticised the force for treating candidates with protected characteristics more favourably than everyone else.
Matthew now works as an analyst for an energy company. A remedy hearing is to be set when the force may be ordered to pay him damages.
What this means to you?
If your employer is applying positive action, that’s fine – but it must be applied lawfully.
If you feel you have been discriminated against at work, give us a call. We’ll let you know if you might have a case and what to do next.
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