Discrimination in the Workplace

100% Partner level advice so you can get top legal advice for your situation

Discrimination in the Workplace

To put it simply, it is discrimination when you are treated less favourably at work because of your age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex or maternity status, or sexual orientation.

We act solely for employees to get clarity on your options and what it might cost to make a claim for discrimination.

We know how you feel, and we can often step in on your behalf. We can take over the communications with your employer, give you a voice to make positive changes to your situation and support you all the way.

Get immediate feedback, at no cost, on whether you may have a claim for discrimination.

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We can help you:

  • Discover whether the cost of your claim can be covered by an existing insurance policy
  • Get specialist support with your claim to make the process easier
  • By providing clear advice in plain English – no confusing legal jargon
  • With representation across the UK – we offer telephone and video consultations
  • What the likely outcome will be

We are exclusively a Partner only firm. This means you will get the highest level of representation throughout your case.

Discrimination law is complex. So make sure you get the right advice by speaking to us.

We have helped many in the past address the injustice which has led to favourable compensation. We have taken high profile cases through tribunals to achieve actual change in the workplace and bring renewed confidence.

Speak to us directly and book your free consultation

What you can expect from us:

  • Guiding you to make the best choices for your case, using our specialist knowledge and experience of employment law and procedures.
  • Providing clear information on fees so that you have control of your costs right from the start.
  • Actively progressing your matter. Thanks to our focus on quality of service, not quantity of cases, your issue will get the attention it needs, when it needs it.
  • Keeping you up to date about your matter. You shouldn’t need to chase us to find out what is happening.
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Who we are

Bloomsbury Square Employment Law is committed to providing partner-level advice to all.

Our Partners have a wide range of experience in unfair dismissal, covering a variety of industries. We work together to ensure that clients get the best of this combined experience, alongside excellent client service.

You will receive swift and efficient personal service from an experienced practitioner who understands what you are going through.

There are several areas of Discrimination in the Workplace:

The law protects you against discrimination at work, including:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Pregnancy and Maternity
  • Race
  • Religion or Belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual Orientation

Here are some common questions we get around discrimination in the workplace:

Q – What conduct amounts to unlawful discrimination?

A – You have suffered discrimination if others treat you less favourably or differently, which includes making decisions that exclude you, bully or harass you.

The Equality Act 2010 says that discrimination is unlawful. Getting a free consultation with us is usually the quickest way of getting the support you need.

Q – Can I bring a discrimination case whilst remaining in employment?

A – Yes.

Q – Are there time limits for bringing a claim to the Employment Tribunal?

A – Yes, usually 3 months from the act of discrimination.

Q – Can I claim compensation if I am the victim of unlawful discrimination?

A – Yes, your claim can include past or future loss of earnings and benefits and injury to feelings.

Q – What will I need to pay for legal assistance?

A – We offer different options to suit our clients, including a ‘no win, no fee’ option for qualifying clients. Sometimes your employer will cover the assistance.  Get in touch with us to see if your situation qualifies for ‘no win, no fee’ or employer covered assistance.

For tailored advice to your situation, why not speak to our highly experienced team of employment lawyers and get peace of mind that you are leaving with a fair outcome today.

Meet the partners

Garvey_Hanchard-scaled-e1628943833645
Senior employment law &
dispute resolution expert
Nicola_Welchman-scaled-e1628943865335
One of London’s top rated employment lawyers
Dipalli-Naik-Full
Specialist employment lawyer with over 18 years experience
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Specialist employment lawyer with over 18 years experience

Will_Burrows-scaled-e1628943888926
Highly experienced heavy hitter in employment & negotiations
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Unflappable and assured employment law expert
hardeep

Leading Employment Law Specialist with Extensive Experience

Senior employment law dispute resolution expert
Highly experienced heavy hitter in employment negotiations
One of London’s top rated employment lawyers
Unflappable and assured employment law expert
Specialist employment lawyer with over 18 years experience
Leading Employment Law Specialist with Extensive Experience

Leading Employment Law Specialist with Extensive Experience

We specialise in complex discrimination cases

Arrange a free Disability Discrimination consultation with us

Disability Discrimination

What is disability discrimination?
It is unlawful for an employer or service provider to treat someone less favourably because of a disability or if something arises as a result of a disability.

What is a disability?

According to the Equality Act 2010, you have a disability if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term effect on your abilities to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

There are six forms of disability discrimination:

Failure to make reasonable adjustments

If you have a disability, the Equality Act 2010 imposes an obligation on your employer to make reasonable adjustments to premises or working practices to help you. Failure to do so is disability discrimination.
Employers also have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to help disabled job applicants.
Your employer’s duties fall into three categories:
In each of these cases, your employer must take reasonable steps to avoid the substantial disadvantage.
It is necessary for your employer to know you have a disability to trigger its duty to make reasonable adjustments.

Direct disability discrimination

Direct disability discrimination is when, because of your disability, your employer treats you less favourably than they treat or would treat a non-disabled person.
For example, if an employee is sacked because of sickness absences totalling three months, but a non-disabled colleague who is off sick for three months is not sacked.
Or, a disabled employee being overlooked for promotion because of assumptions about their ability to cope in the promoted role which are not made about a non-disabled colleague.
If an employer can not provide an innocent explanation for the less favourable treatment, this would suggest the reason is the employee’s disability.

Types of disability discrimination

Not your disability

It is possible to be directly discriminated against because of the disability of someone else (associative discrimination). For example, an employee not being invited to a client event, where everyone is attending with their partner, because her partner is disabled. It is also possible to be directly discriminated against if your employer wrongly believes you have a disability and discriminates against you on the basis of that incorrect perception (perception discrimination). For example, an employer wrongly concludes that an employee has mental health difficulties and makes discriminatory decisions based on that incorrect information.

Indirect disability discrimination

Indirect disability discrimination is when there is a particular policy or way of working that applies to everyone but puts people with a particular disability at a disadvantage. For example, an employer has a sickness policy which automatically warns and then dismisses employees for reaching a set number of sickness absence days. This type of policy is likely to impact on employees with certain kinds of disability compared to others. In this example, the employee would also likely argue that the employer failed to make reasonable adjustments, although unlike the duty to make reasonable adjustments, indirect discrimination can occur even when the employer does not know the employee has a disability. An employer’s possible defence to indirect disability discrimination is that the relevant policy or way of working was a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.

Discrimination arising from disability

Discrimination arising from disability occurs when an employer treats you less favourably because of a consequence of your disability. For example, an employee with dyslexia or mobility issues that means he cannot work as quickly as colleagues is dismissed for poor performance. Here the discrimination is not because of the disability condition itself but because of the employee’s slow working speed which arises from the disability. An employer’s possible defence would be to argue that its action was ‘objectively justified’. Discrimination arising from disability does not require an employee to compare his or her treatment with that of a comparator. An employer can only be liable for discrimination arising from disability if it knew, or should have known, that the employee had a disability.

Disability harassment

Disability harassment is unwanted conduct related to a person’s disability that has the purpose or effect of violating their dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person. For example, derogatory language or commentary directed toward a person or in their presence related to a disability (including about other workers with a disability).

Disability victimisation

Disability based victimisation is when someone is punished for complaining about disability discrimination in some way or other. For example, someone is selected for redundancy because they raised a grievance complaining about failure to make reasonable adjustments for a disability.

How to prove discrimination

The standard of proof in discrimination cases is the normal civil standard, namely whether, on the balance of probabilities (ie ‘more likely than not’ or 51% likely) discrimination occurred.
The burden of proof has two stages:

Evidence in direct discrimination cases

Employment tribunal cases where there is strong, direct evidence of discrimination are rare. Cases where there is clear evidence of discrimination tend to settle without a hearing because most employers want to avoid the adverse publicity those hearings might attract.
In most discrimination cases an employment tribunal will have to make a decision based on what ‘inferences’ it can draw from the presented facts. As a result, there can often be lots of potentially relevant inference evidence which claimants can be tempted into using to prove their discrimination case. In most circumstances, claimants should resist that temptation as good points in a case can be discredited by a claimant arguing weak points which may be difficult to prove and lead to excessive and inconclusive evidence. This can have the effect of clouding the real issues, detract from any stronger evidence and unnecessarily lengthen the hearing.
Discrimination cases are generally more complex than other types of employment tribunal claims, with the average discrimination hearing being much longer than other hearings. This makes evidence selection an even more important part of preparing a discrimination case.
Injury to feelings compensation is awarded to reflect the degree of hurt felt by a particular claimant as a result of the discrimination, so will vary from claimant to claimant.
The Court of Appeal identified three broad bands for injury to feelings (sometimes referred to as “Vento” bands:
If you have been discriminated against at work or during recruitment it is important to seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity.

Do I qualify to bring a disability discrimination claim?

If you meet the stages of the definition of disability (as discussed above) then, if you believe you have been discriminated against because of your disability, there is no length of service or other qualifying requirement.
In most cases, employers will almost automatically deny you have a relevant disability, and you will be expected to produce medical evidence to the employment tribunal in order to prove that your condition meets the disability definition.
Some medical conditions are deemed to meet the definition and will not require you to prove disability. These include, multiple sclerosis, HIV or cancer, or those registered with a local authority or certified by a consultant ophthalmologist as blind or sight impaired.

Key questions on discrimination

Compensation

When a claimant is successful in a discrimination case, the employment tribunal can make recommendations and award compensation. Unlike in unfair dismissal claims, there is no ceiling on the amount of compensation an employment tribunal can award in a discrimination case. Compensation consists of financial loss caused by the discrimination including past and future loss of earnings, loss of opportunity and ‘injury to feelings’.

Do I need comparative evidence in a direct discrimination case?

Because in direct discrimination cases you need to show that you have been treated less favourably because of your disability, there is an inherent requirement to establish the someone (‘the comparator’), who did not or would not suffer unfavourable treatment. In most cases it is impossible to show a real-life comparator where all the relevant circumstances are the same, and so it is necessary to present a hypothetical comparator and consider how they would have been treated. It is still possible, though harder, to prove direct discrimination where there is no comparator. In practice, a claimant’s representative will often present both real and hypothetical comparators in an employment tribunal case.

Is my employer responsible for acts of discrimination by employees?

Employers will generally be liable for acts of discrimination by employees who are acting in the course of their employment. This is known as vicarious liability. Discrimination claims can also be brought directly against individuals, although it is rare for claims to be brought against an individual without a claim also being brought against the employer. If claims are brought against both the employer and individual(s), the employer can decide whether to try to defend itself separately from the individual(s) by arguing that it took all reasonably practicable steps to prevent the discrimination.

Do I need to raise a grievance?

The law does not require you to raise a grievance but, if you are still employed, in most cases you should do so before bringing a claim for disability discrimination, which you are entitled to do whilst you are still employed.

Contact us

If you feel you have a case and want the best possible advice, get in touch with our team

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