Employment Law Explained

Introduction to Discrimination

Discrimination can be based upon sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, ethnic origin, disability, and religion.

Examples of discrimination include:

a female worker being paid less than a male worker doing the same job.
an ethnic minority employee being overlooked for promotion because of their ethnic background.

If an employee wishes to bring in a claim to the Employment Tribunal based upon discrimination, the employee can send a questionnaire to the employer asking specific questions about either the employee's particular circumstances or the employer's work place generally. The contents of the questionnaire, answers to the questionnaire and, if applicable, refusal to answer the questionnaire can all be brought to the Employment Tribunal's attention at any hearing.

There are now questionnaires for all forms of discrimination. You can get advice from the Equal Opportunities Commission, Commission for Racial Equality or Disability Rights Commission.

It is for the employee to prove that he or she was treated less favourably than somebody of a different race, gender etc. The employer must then prove the reason for the different treatment was unconnected with the employee's race, gender etc., failing which the Tribunal will find the employer guilty of discrimination.

You must bring an application alleging discrimination within 3 months of the alleged incident of discrimination. For example, if a pregnant woman went to a job interview but was not offered the job and she felt this was because she was pregnant, she must make her application to the Tribunal within three months of when the decision was made not to select her for the position.

It is possible to receive assistance in a claim for discrimination from the Commission for Equality and Human Rights Commision or Disability Rights Commission.

Discrimination Remedies

If an Employment Tribunal is satisfied that discrimination has taken place there are a number of remedies available to it. By far the most common remedy to discrimination is an award of compensation. Tribunals can also make recommendations for improvements in the employer's policies and systems, although these are unusual. In cases of discrimination, there is no cap upon a level of discrimination compensation that can be ordered by the Employment Tribunal and damages can include an element to cover injury to feelings and, occasionally, if the employee suffered actual psychological injury, damages for personal injury. The damages can also be increased if the employer's behaviour was insulting or malicious, called "aggravated damages".

The vast majority of awards for injury to feelings are for less than £5,000. Most one-off acts of discrimination (such as a refusal to offer a job, or a one-off incident of harassment), fall into this category. For more serious cases, tribunals will award between £5,000 and £15,000. For the absolute worst cases, covering very serious harassment ongoing over many years, tribunals can award up to £25,000.