Equal Opportunities

It is the continuing policy of the Company to provide equal opportunity employment to all employees without regard to the actual or perceived protected characteristics referenced below. Aston Group is committed to treating all employees fairly and as such no employee will be treated less favourably due to their association with someone who has a protected characteristic

Protected characteristics

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership (applies only to someone who actually personally has this characteristic)
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race (including ethnic origin, colour, citizenship, nationality, and national origin)
• Religion or Belief
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation

People will be judged solely on merit and ability during recruitment, selection, training, development and promotion throughout their employment.

Fair treatment

All employees whether full-time, part-time or temporary, will be treated fairly and with respect. This policy applies to all employment decisions, including those in connection with:

• Recruitment, selection, promotion and advertisement of jobs
• Terms and conditions of employment
• Training, career development and progression
• Grievance and disciplinary procedures
• Performance
• Relationships between members of staff
• Treatment of employees when their contract ends

Enquiries about disability and health during recruitment

As an equal opportunities employer Aston Group will not ask about the health of an applicant (including whether they are disabled) prior to either offering work to the applicant or prior to including the applicant in a pool of applicants from which we intend to select a person to whom to offer work, unless an exemption applies.

• The only circumstances in which the Company may make pre-employment health enquiries are:
• To establish whether the Company has a duty to make a reasonable adjustment
  in respect of an interview/assessment process
• To establish whether the applicant will be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the work concerned
• To monitor the diversity of applicants
• To implement positive action in employment for disabled people
• To recruit appropriately where having a particular disability is a requirement of
  the role
• To comply with national security vetting requirements

Promotion of equal opportunities and observance of the policy

Each employee of Aston Group has an obligation to promote an equal opportunity environment within the Company. As our employee, you have a duty to observe and apply this policy at all times. In particular you must not:

• Discriminate against or harass colleagues, other employees or job applicants;
• Discriminate against or harass visitors, clients, customers, suppliers, consultants,
  or contractors;
• Discriminate against or harass members of the public in the course of your duties, irrespective of whether such conduct occurs on company premises;
• Induce, or attempt to induce, others to practise unlawful discrimination;
• Victimise individuals who have made allegations or complaints of discrimination or provided information about such discrimination.

Violation of this policy is a serious offence and could result in disciplinary action and/or summary dismissal.

To ensure the effective operation of this policy and equality of opportunity within the Company we monitor the composition of the workforce and undertake equal opportunities monitoring as part of the recruitment process. Provision of information for monitoring purposes is purely voluntary and will be kept in an anonymised format solely for the purposes stated above, it will not adversely affect chances of recruitment or any other decision related to your employment.

If you feel that you have been treated in a manner that is not in accordance with this policy, please initially raise the matter with your manager. The Company takes such matters seriously and aims to resolve any complaints in accordance with its grievance procedure. If there is a good reason as to why you are unable to raise this matter initially with your manager please contact the HR Manager in relation to your complaint. All complaints will be treated seriously and, where possible, in confidence.