Discrimination in recruitment and selection

By Lynda Macdonald
Brightmine editor: Lilia Dangi, Legal Editor

Hiring decisions carry significant legal risk, and HR teams must ensure every stage of recruitment is free from unlawful discrimination.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers must not treat job applicants unfavourably because of a protected characteristic—and both direct and indirect discrimination can arise from job adverts, selection criteria, interview questions or the use of certain recruitment practices.

Our Employment Law Compliance Guide to Discrimination in Recruitment and Selection provides HR professionals with clear, expert-led guidance on how to avoid these pitfalls. It explains the legal impact of the Equality Act on recruitment, outlines your obligations when assessing candidates, and details best‑practice steps—such as making reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants, avoiding prohibited pre‑offer health questions, and ensuring recruitment processes do not disadvantage under‑represented groups.

Give your hiring managers the confidence to run fair, consistent and fully compliant recruitment processes with our comprehensive Brightmine employment law guide.

In this guide, learn about:

• Overview of the recruitment process
• Overview of the impact of the Equality Act 2010 on recruitment
• Direct discrimination
  • Discrimination by association
  • Discrimination because of a perception
• Indirect discrimination
  • Indirect discrimination and justification
  • Indirect discrimination – gender
  • Indirect discrimination – race
  • Indirect discrimination – religion
  • Indirect discrimination – disability
  • Indirect discrimination – age
• Harassment
• Victimisation
• Discrimination claims
• Employer’s liability for discriminatory acts
• Disabled candidates
  • Discrimination arising from disability
  • Duty to make reasonable adjustments
  • Justifying discrimination arising from disability
  • Positive discrimination and candidates with a disability
  • Questions about disability and health screening
• Pregnant job candidates
• Positive action – general provisions
• Positive action in recruitment and promotion – specific provisions
• Occupational requirements
  • Occupational requirements relating to religion
• Information gathered for monitoring purposes
• The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment
• Keeping records
• Employment agencies and executive search businesses
• Ensuring instructions are free from discrimination
• Future developments

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