Charity - legal action. Would you?

ceebeeby

A charity I worked with (and still do) did something very bad to me (I know that's cryptic, but please just trust me on it, anonymity and all that)!

I'm struggling morally with whether its right to commence legal action against a charity, or whether to chalk it up to life's experience and hope one day I get over it!

And if I did take legal action, and they were found in fault, would I be allowed to ask for something other than money (ie an apology and some sort of undertaking never to do what they did again, to anyone). I don't want their money, but I want them to know at the very top of their organisation that they did wrong.

What a quandary

PlutoinCapricorn

No one can help without knowing more about what happened - for example, is this connected with employment law, charity law?

Are they registered with the Charity Commission?
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/litigation_by_charities?unfold=1

You could try Citizen's Advice ...

paddyrg

You could make a financial case, but then gift the awarded amount back to the charity (with gift aid if you're able!). The award would be an apology in real, tangible terms, but you wouldn't have stitched up their other supporters donations so could claim the high ground all ways round.

PlutoinCapricorn

http://www.charitytimes.com/pages/ct_news/news%20archive/September_06_news/220906a_law_suits.htm

InsideInsurance

If you want a directive to force them to do (or not to do) something then you'd be looking at an injunction.

Whilst you could sue for cash and then gift them back the money there is the matter of legal costs which may be incurred resulting in real losses to them (depending on the size of the claim, which track of court handles the case and their approach to dealing with legal matters).

Depending on the size of the charity a letter sent to each of the board members or trustees may get the level of attention required without incurring either parties cost

Savvy_Sue

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

http://www.charitytimes.com/pages/ct_news/news%20archive/September_06_news/220906a_law_suits.htm

Your link is about the general public suing charities. I can't immediately lay my hands on the detail, but employment tribunals quite commonly involve charities - was it a third of all cases?

OP, if you want those 'at the top' to know what happened, you can contact the Trustees.

But you still work with them: you do risk souring the relationship somewhat.

Also was it a general action on their part, or the action of a rogue individual? That would make a difference, to me ...

antrobus

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Your link is about the general public suing charities. I can't immediately lay my hands on the detail, but employment tribunals quite commonly involve charities - was it a third of all cases? ..

Not quite.

7% of cases before the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) involve charities, although the not-for-profit sector only accounts for 3% of employment.

http://www.workplacelaw.net/content/26917

princeofpounds

There's nothing wrong with suing a charity unless the lawsuit is spurious or you use tactics designed to force an unfair settlement (such as dragging it out to make costs mount up), rather than use the legal process as a means to remedy genuine injustices.

One possibility, if it were about principle rather than recovery of damages, would be to sue the charity and then donate any compensation to a competitor charity. Charities are competing corporate bodies in a similar way to companies, they are not saintly by mere virtue of their corporate structure.

A court is unlikely to take on a case where you are not looking for actual damages or some other legal redress (as if there is no loss or damage caused, how can there be a case to answer?), but you could always accept an offer of an apology or something similar as part of a settlement.

ceebeeby

Thank you for all your replies.

To clarify, I'm not employed by the charity. I am employed by a completely separate organisation who works with the said charity. As part of my employment, I regularly link with that charity (hence working with the charity).

I believe in the cause of the charity, and would not wish to reduce the money they had available for their cause.

They are of sufficient size as to have ready access to legal assistance, and have approx. £2m pa turnover.

The inappropriate actions taken were undertaken by one person within the charity, however, four in total were involved.

Thanks again

whitewing

If you work for an organisation that has links to the charity, and you commence legal action against the charity, are you realistically going to be able to continue working for your organisation? (Without knowing the issue, it's hard to make a judgement).

Savvy_Sue

Would getting 'your' organisation to raise it with 'their' organisation at the appropriate level be helpful?

We've occasionally had 'issues' with other groups we work with not taking their responsibilities as seriously as we might wish / expecting us to do work which is really their responsibility etc. When that happens our boss talks to one of their bosses which has usually proved helpful.