Discrimination has a specific meaning in the Employment Equality Acts 1998 - 2004. Discrimination is described as the treatment of a person in a less favourable way than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the nine grounds.

There are different types of discrimination covered by the Acts including indirect discrimination, discrimination by imputation and discrimination by association.

Discrimination is defined as the treatment of a person in a less favourable way than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the nine grounds which exists, existed, may exist in the future, or is imputed to the person concerned. The instruction to discriminate is also prohibited.

Are you being treated differently on the grounds of:

• The gender ground: A man, a woman or a transsexual person (specific protection is provided for pregnant employees or in relation to maternity leave);
• The marital status ground: Single, married, separated, divorced or widowed;
• The family status ground: A parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary carer or a parent of a person with a disability;
• The sexual orientation ground: Gay, lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual; (The Court of Justice in PSV held that discrimination against a transsexual constituted discrimination on the grounds of sex.)
• The religion ground: Different religious belief, background, outlook or none;
• The age ground: This applies to all ages above the maximum age at which a person is statutorily obliged to attend school;
• The disability ground: This is broadly defined including people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions;
• The race ground: A particular race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin;
• The Traveller community ground: People who are commonly called Travellers, who are identified both by Travellers and others as people with a shared history, culture and traditions, identified historically as a nomadic way of life on the island of Ireland.