Equal Opportunities (4): What you can do about discrimination

What you can do about discrimination

If you have been discriminated against, first think about what you want to be done. Depending on how you were discriminated against, you may want:

your job back;
compensation;
an apology; or
a clear sign that an organisation won’t discriminate in the same way in future.

Whatever you want, it is usually best to first try to sort out the matter with the person or organisation that has discriminated against you (your employer, for example).

If complaining in this way doesn’t get what you want, your next steps will depend on the type of discrimination you have suffered and where it happened.

Dealing with discrimination at work

If your discrimination happened at work, you may be able to take your case to an employment tribunal.

However, new laws that came into force in October 2004 say that you and your employer must follow a statutory grievance procedure (one set by law) before you can take your case to a tribunal. This means that you must send your employer a grievance, which is a letter saying why you believe you were discriminated against. You must normally do this within three months of the event you are complaining about. This time limit does not apply if you are complaining about equal pay. In this case you can send your written grievance:

at any time while you are still working for your employer; or
within six months of when you stopped working for them.

Your employer must then invite you to a meeting to discuss your grievance. After the meeting, your employer must tell you what they will do about your complaint. They must also tell you how you can appeal their decision if you do not agree with it.

Once you have put in your grievance you must wait 28 days before you can lodge a claim with a tribunal. This time limit applies whether or not your employer has responded to your grievance.

The new grievance procedures are law and must be followed completely, except in a few specific situations. For example, the new procedures do not apply if:

your complaint is about less favourable treatment under the Part-Time Workers Regulations and the Fixed-Term Employee Regulations (see ‘Part-time work’);
you are not an ‘employee’ of the organisation you have been working for, because you are, for example, self employed; or
your complaint is about dismissal, and your employer has dismissed or is considering dismissing you.

If you have already left your job, you and your employer can agree to deal with your grievance only through letters, without having a meeting. But your employer cannot make you agree to this.

If the dispute reaches an employment tribunal and the tribunal finds that you have not followed the grievance procedure in full, it may reduce any compensation it awards you. You should seek advice if you are unsure about how these new rules apply in your case.

If your employer wants to discipline or dismiss you, they must first follow a set disciplinary procedure. If they dismiss you without following the procedure properly, the employment tribunal may automatically judge your dismissal as unfair, and award you at least four weeks’ pay.

For more information about your rights if you are dismissed or facing redundancy, see the Community Legal Service Direct leaflet, ‘Employment’.

Going to an employment tribunal

You can take your case to an employment tribunal if:

you have been through the grievance or disciplinary procedure but are unhappy with the result;
your employer hasn’t followed the grievance or disciplinary procedure properly; or
the grievance or disciplinary procedure does not apply to your case.

In all these cases, you must also have put in your grievance to your employer at least 28 days ago.

The cost of going to a tribunal can be low. Even if you lose your case, you will not have to pay your employer’s costs unless the tribunal decides you were being unreasonable in bringing the claim.

You bring a tribunal claim by filling in an application form, called an ET1. You can get this from your local Jobcentre Plus, Citizens Advice Bureau, or online from the Employment Tribunal Service (see ‘Further help’).

You must normally make a claim to an employment tribunal within three months minus one day from when you first knew about the discrimination. However, if the discrimination is ongoing, this time limit may not apply.

The time limit also does not apply if you are complaining about equal pay. In this case you can make a claim to the tribunal:

at any time while you are still working for your employer; or
within six months minus one day of when you stopped working for them.

If you are going through the grievance or disciplinary procedure, you have an extra three months to bring your claim, as long as:

you have sent your grievance to your employer within the right time limit; or
the dismissal or disciplinary procedure is ongoing, or you have good reason to believe it is ongoing.

Using the questionnaire procedure

If you want to make a claim to an employment tribunal, you normally send a special form, called a questionnaire, to your employer. You can get this form from:

a Jobcentre Plus; or
the Equal Opportunities Commission, if your claim is about sex discrimination or equal pay.

In this form, you can ask your employer for more information about your treatment. For example, if you believe that you didn’t get a job because of your sex, you can ask for details of:

your employer’s selection procedures; and
the qualifications and experience of the person who got the job, to see how they compare with your own.

If you believe you may not be receiving equal pay, this form will also help you find out whether this is the case and if so, why.

You must send the form to the employer:

within three months of when the discrimination happened; or
within 21 days of the employment tribunal receiving your complaint.

You don’t have to use the questionnaire procedure, but it will normally help your case. In the same way, the employer doesn’t have to fill in the form, but if they don’t, it may harm their case. And if you do use it, you can still choose to withdraw your complaint before your case is dealt with by the tribunal.

How compensation is worked out

If the tribunal rules that you have been unlawfully discriminated against, it can award you compensation for:

loss of earnings (including money you would have earned if you had not been discriminated against);
injury to your feelings;
personal injury, if it was caused by discrimination.

If you are unhappy with the tribunal’s decision

If you or your employer are unhappy about how the tribunal reached its decision, you may be able to appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. But you can appeal only on whether the law was applied correctly, not on whether you thought the tribunal’s decision was fair. You have 42 days after the decision to lodge an appeal.

Further help

Community Legal Service Direct

Provides free information, help and advice direct to the public on a range of common legal issues.

Call 0845 345 4 345

Speak to a qualified legal adviser about benefits and tax credits, debt, education, housing or employment or find local advice services for other problems.

Click www.clsdirect.org.uk

Find a quality local legal adviser or solicitor and links to other sources of online information and help.