Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (the Regulations), make discrimination on grounds of age unlawful in the following areas:

• employment and occupation;
• further and higher education;
• vocational training.

The Regulations prohibit all employers, regardless of size, from subjecting job applicants and employees, including contract workers and former employees, to age discrimination and harassment. It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate in all aspects of the employment relationship, such as:

• recruitment and selection;
• terms and conditions of employment;
• working environment (conduct and harassment);
• access to (employment related) benefits;
• termination of employment – such as dismissal and redundancy; and 
• post-employment situations – such as the provision of references.

View further information on age discrimination.

Please visit the Disability pages to find out more information.

Gender Equality

Queen's University is at the forefront of Gender Equality and a recognised leader in equality initiatives. We currently hold two Gold, eight Silver and five Bronze Departmental Athena SWAN Awards and a Silver Institutional Award. 

Transgender Equality

The University fully recognises its responsibility to protect the rights of transgender people and to ensure that no individual is subject to discrimination or victimisation as a result of the gender in which they present themselves. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming community where staff and students are enabled to meet their full potential and are treated as individuals. Please click here to view a copy of the University's Trans Equality Policy. 

The policy is aimed at providing advice, support and guidance to individuals who wish to take, or have taken, steps to present themselves in a sex different to that assigned to them at birth. We recognise that this can a very difficult and complex time for people and wish to act in a sensitive and supportive way by having helpful policies and practices in place to ease any transitional period.

We also hope that the policy will be of assistance to QUB management and staff who are required to provide advice, guidance and assistance to Trans colleagues or students.

The following documents have been provided to help staff and students understand some of the issues, language and appropriate: 

• Outline of the Transition Process (guidance only)
• Support Plan for Transition Process (guidance only)
• Trans Terminology and Language (external guidance)
• Trans Staff and Students in Higher Education: A publication by the Equality Challenge Unit (2016)
• Trans EDU (external website) 
• Trans Unite (External website)

These documents are for guidance purposes only and may be updated based upon any feedback which is received by the Diversity and Inclusion Unit.

You may find the external links below of some further assistance. However, please note that the University is not responsible for the content which appears on third party websites (click on the bullet points below to follow the links).

• SAIL NI
• Transgender NI

You are protected from discrimination and harassment in the workplace on the grounds of your sexual orientation. The law also covers individuals who are treated worse than others due to incorrect assumptions about their sexual orientation or because they associate with people of a particular sexual orientation. If you identify as belonging to the LGBT+ community, you can join our LGBT+ Staff Network. If you would like to find out more about the Staff LGBT+ Network, its meetings, events etc, then please emai: eqdiv@qub.ac.uk or phone us on 028 9097 1046. 

Individuals are protected from unfair treatment on racial grounds, which constitute unlawful discrimination. ‘Racial grounds’ include colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, or being a member of the Irish Traveller community.

The University upholds fair treatment of all staff members, including those of married or civil partnership status under the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976.

Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, Queen's University, as an employer, must ensure there is equality of opportunity for staff who have dependants and those without. A dependant is the spouse, partner, child or parent of the member of staff.  A dependant could also be someone who lives in the household with the member of staff and is dependant on them, for example, an elderly aunt or grandparent who lives in the household. Queen's offer a range of Work-Life Balance Policies to assist staff who have dependants such as Dependant Leave, Career Break, Parental Leave, Flexible Working, Childcare Vouchers. Details of all our family friendly policies can be viewed here. For further information on support available for Carers at Queen's please visit the Carers section of the Wellbeing Site.  Another useful resource is the Carers NI website which provides help and advice regarding practical and financial support available as well as support networks you can avail of.

You are protected from discrimination on the grounds of your religious or similar philosophical belief. View more information.

In Northern Ireland you are protected from discrimination on the grounds of your political opinion. View more information