Disability

Discrimination arising from Disability (Section 15)

Under section 15 of the Act a person discriminates against a disabled person if he/she treats them unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability, and this treatment cannot be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

If you are acting as either an employer or service provider and did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know of the disabled person's disability, then the unfavourable treatment will not amount to discrimination. However, you must do all you can reasonably be expected to do to find out if a person has a disability.

Unlike direct and indirect discrimination, this form of discrimination does not require the use of a comparator to establish less favourable treatment.

So long as the unfavourable treatment is because of something arising in consequence of the disability, it will be unlawful unless it can be objectively justified, or unless the employer or service provider did not know or could not reasonably have been expected to know that the person was disabled.

Further information is available on the Government Equalities Office website here.