Equality Commission Northern Ireland

TEL 028 90 500 600

Employers & service providers

Delivering equality

Want to stay on the right side of the law? We support businesses and public authorities and help them to promote good practice.

Public authorities

Here to help

Information and advice for businesses and service providers

Training

Employer Training Programme

Every Customer Counts

Promoting accessible services

Employers and service providers have duties and obligations under equality laws. To be an equal opportunities employer you must not discriminate unlawfully against or harass anyone on the grounds of:

sex, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment, married or civil partnership, political opinion, religious or similar philosophical belief, race, sexual orientation, disability and age

Service Providers

Those providing goods, facilities and services are required to make these accessible to everyone.

Contact Us
We provide practical advice on how you can manage the equality implications of employing and managing staff and providing services to the public. For further details contact us: email: enquiries@equalityni.org or Tel: 028 90 500 600

Employer Training Programme
We are now be providing a number of training sessions as online webinars.

These will focus on a number of important equality issues for employers and will expand to cover additional topics over the coming months.

Further details are available online: www.equalityni.org/training

We have developed the “Every Customer Counts" initiative which supports and encourages businesses to look at how accessible their premises and services are for someone with a disability.

We know that no sensible business person sets out to drive customers away - but if your business is inaccessible to people with disabilities, that is just what you are doing. 20% of people in NI have a disability and 75% of disabled people state that they have walked away from a potential purchase because of access problems. This is a significant loss of income for businesses given that approximately 40% of households in Northern Ireland contain at least 1 disabled person.

Read more about Every Customer Counts

Learn how you can keep your service on the right side of the law

Employer Guidance

- School Teachers - recruitment NEW
- Employment Equality Monitoring
- Harassment and Bullying at Work
- The Menopause
- Equal Opportunities
- Model policies (Word doc templates)
- Pregnancy and maternity at work
- Flexible Working
- Dress codes at work
- Gender pay reporting
- GDPR advice note

Learning the Lessons - Employer blog

Equality at work - articles, videos, podcasts

Mental Health Charter - Sign up now

Women in STEM - Why it matters

Every Customer Counts - accessible services

Training

We are now be providing a number of employer training sessions as online webinars

Recruiting People With Disabilities

We have produced guidance on recruiting people with disabilities. This includes useful information about the reasonable adjustment duty, good practice and taking positive action. Read our guidance

Download our pdf publication: Making It Work - Employment support services for people with disabilities