We all know that claims can be made by individuals who are directly discriminated against at work or if they are indirectly discriminated against (i.e. if an employer applies an apparently neutral requirement but that is more difficult for some groups to comply with e.g. a height restriction for no legally justifiable reason).
Organisations also need to be mindful of discrimination by ‘Perception and Association’. The Association section of this mainly involves carers e.g. of disabled children or other relatives as in the above case.
When the employer wished the Claimant to work more from the office she explained that she looked after her mother who is disabled, i.e. there was an ‘Association’ that the employer needed to take into account in its decisions.
When the employer didn’t do so, this ‘Association’ meant she won her claim for disability discrimination even though she was not disabled herself,
Like all forms of discrimination, awards against employers can be eye wateringly high, as in this £350,000 case. Unfair dismissal awards are generally limited to a ‘basic’ award that is roughly the equivalent of Statutory redundancy, plus actual losses e.g. compensation for if it takes several months for the individual to find another role.
However, discrimination awards are unlimited and, in addition to the above, often include payouts for the effects of the discrimination e.g. injury to feelings.
The best way to avoid claims such as this is to train employees in discrimination and harassment. Our 40 minute ‘banter and behaviour in the workplace’ eLearning course does just this, in an interesting and informative way. Training such as this has been proven to improve engagement and also the workplace culture.
Banter & Behaviour in the Workplace
This new e-learning course describes the various forms of harassment and discrimination in an easy-to-understand format so organisations can appreciate where the bar is at work between acceptable behaviour and that which is likely to lead to a grievance or successful Tribunal claim.
The above link gives a flavour of the course. It includes a 2-minute demo discussing the issues from a case where an employee made lewd sexual remarks to a colleague about someone else.
Also, don’t forget that at present employees generally need 2 years’ service to make an unfair dismissal claim but individuals can make a discrimination claim from day 1 of employment or even before e.g. if the job advert is discriminatory or an individual is discriminated against in the recruitment process.
If you would like to discuss the course, how else we can help you, or HR in general please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would love to hear from you.