Equal Opportunities Policy

Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors does not discriminate on grounds of race, religion, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation or disability in relation to:

• the recruitment and employment of personnel;
• the promotion of partners and staff;
• the provision of services and acceptance of instructions;
• the use of outside experts and counsel.

Instructions from clients which would fall outside these parameters are not accepted.

The firm is committed to providing equal opportunities in employment. This means that all job applicants and employees will receive equal treatment regardless of sex, marital status, race, religion, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, or disability.

It is unlawful to discriminate against individuals either directly or indirectly in respect of their race or sex or disability. The Race Relations Act 1976, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Industrial Tribunals Act 1996 are the relevant Acts. In addition, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 imposes an obligation on employees to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the workplace for disabled personnel. Codes of Practice relating to sex and race discrimination have been produced by the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality and these, together with the Law Society’s policy statement, have been used as a basis for this policy.

The following are the kinds of discrimination which are against the firm’s policy:

• direct discrimination where a person is less favourably treated because of sex, race or disability. An example is if someone is refused promotion on the grounds that he or she is black or disabled;
• Indirect discrimination, where a requirement or condition which cannot be justified is applied equally to all groups but has a disproportionately adverse effect on one particular group. An example is where an age limit for new recruits may exclude many women of that age group because they are unable to apply for the job as a result of family commitments, or the restricting of recruitment to areas where there are few ethnic minorities, or a requirement which is non-essential to the job description which may exclude a disabled person (such as the requirement for a driving licence for a job which is mainly office-based);
• victimisation where someone is treated less favourably than others because he or she has taken action against the firm under one of the relevant Acts.

The action taken by this firm to ensure compliance with our Equal Opportunities Policy include:

• Job advertisements: all job advertisements wherever placed will include the following statement: ‘This firm operates an equal opportunities policy.”
• Recruitment: the firm will take steps to ensure that applications are attracted from both sexes and all races and from disabled people, and will ensure that there are equal opportunities in all stages of the recruitment process. Any publicity relating to the firm and employment will make reference to the equal opportunity policy.
• Promotion: promotion within the firm is based solely on merit.
• Discipline: the firm will treat seriously and take action when any employee has a grievance as a result of discrimination or harassment on sexual or racial grounds or on grounds of disability.