1. Purpose & Scope
Fight Nation Wrestling (FNW) is committed to encouraging and achieving a working environment that values diversity and provides equal opportunities in employment for all employees and any job applicants.
This policy sets out a framework to help ensure that its policies and practices provide equal opportunities for all employees and potential employees, and that no individual experiences any form of discrimination or unnecessary detriment on the grounds of their age, disability, marital or parental status, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment; hours worked, trade union membership or any other criteria that cannot be shown to be properly justified.
The policy applies to all FNW employees, consultants, contractors, casual workers and agency workers.
This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and FNW may amend it at any time.
2. Principles
2.1 All have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to have equal opportunities at all stages of their employment.
2.2 All have a responsibility to treat their colleagues with dignity and respect at all times, and to co-operate fully with any measures introduced to ensure equal opportunities. They also have a responsibility to report any suspected discriminatory acts or practices.
2.3 Any form of discrimination will not be tolerated at FNW and disciplinary action will be taken where appropriate.
2.4 FNW will review its policies and practices in light of any claims of discrimination and take all reasonable steps to remove discrimination wherever possible.
2.5 FNW is committed to making reasonable adjustments wherever possible, to support workers with a disability to enter and remain in employment and to have equal opportunities throughout their employment.
3. Policy
3.1 FNW will take all reasonable steps to ensure that people are treated fairly at all stages of the employment relationship, and that all employment decisions are assessed against objective criteria that avoid discrimination, without regard for protected characteristics. Protected characteristics are defined in the Equality Act 2010 as Sex, Gender Reassignment, Marriage or Civil Partnership, Pregnancy or Maternity, Race (including Ethnic or National Origin, Nationality or Colour), Disability, Sexual Orientation, Age, or Religion or Belief.
3.2 FNW is strongly committed to ensuring that nobody is discriminated against on the basis of a protected characteristic. Discrimination can occur in the following ways:
- Direct Discrimination – treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic
- Indirect Discrimination – putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage
- Disability Discrimination – this includes direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability.
- Harassment – this includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct or behaviour linked to a protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Harassment is dealt with further in our Anti-harassment and Bullying Policy
- Victimisation – treating someone unfairly because they’ve complained about or supported someone else’s complaint about discrimination or harassment
4. Disability Discrimination
FNW is committed to providing equality of opportunity for people with disabilities to enter employment and progress within the Company. Discrimination against disabled people on grounds relating to their disability will not be tolerated.
If you are disabled or become disabled, we encourage you to tell us about your condition so that we can support you as appropriate.
FNW will seek to monitor the physical features of its premises and the way in which it operates, to try to ensure that it does not place employees or applicants with a disability at a substantial disadvantage. This will involve ongoing monitoring, being open to feedback, and being prepared to make changes where a need is identified.
5. Reasonable Adjustments
As a Company, we have a duty (under the Equality Act 2010) and are committed to responding to the needs of our workers and to considering making reasonable adjustments wherever possible to prevent anyone suffering a substantial disadvantage as a result of a disability. A reasonable adjustment may involve (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Changing the way, we do things, for example, a policy, procedure or practice
- Making physical changes to an employee’s work environment.
- Agreeing a temporary or permanent change to roles and responsibilities, working hours, work location etc,
- Providing extra aids or support
Any employee who experiences difficulties, or feels they are at a disadvantage because of a disability, should speak to the FNW management team to discuss any reasonable adjustments that could be made to help overcome or minimise the difficulty/disadvantage they are experiencing. We will try to accommodate an employee’s needs within reason. If we consider a particular adjustment would not be reasonable, we will explain our reasons and try to find an alternative solution where possible.
6. Equal Opportunities Complaints procedure:
If an employee feels they have been subject to or have witnessed any form of discrimination, they should report it to the FNW welfare officer at the earliest opportunity. The complaint will then be investigated by an appropriate Manager. The complainant will be informed of the outcome of the investigation. Any breaches of this policy that are identified as a result of the investigation will be dealt with in accordance with our Disciplinary Procedure.
There may be occasions where an individual feels it is possible to resolve the issue informally by raising the matter directly with the person causing offence, or in the case of indirect discrimination, with a Manager that can review the practice or rule that is felt to be discriminatory. If this approach does not work or is not appropriate, the individual is encouraged to make a formal complaint.
All complaints of discrimination will be taken seriously and investigated promptly and thoroughly. It is emphasised that the complainant and the accused will not be victimised in any way and the matter will be kept as confidential as possible. In the unlikely event that a complaint is found to be malicious or frivolous it may result in disciplinary action being taken against the complainant due to the seriousness of the matter.