13 December 2007
In brief
Employers who try to promote diversity at work risk falling foul of anti-discrimination laws, a report by Nabarro, The Perils of Anti-Discrimination Laws, reveals. Positive action often included in diversity strategies to make workplaces more representative could amount to unlawful positive discrimination under UK and EU law, the report says, and that while aspirational targets are lawful, quotas are not. Sue Ashtiany, head of employment at Nabarro, says: “The scope for ‘positive action’ is very limited and it seems inevitable in these circumstances that employers and organisations, including well-meaning ones, will run into difficulties.”
