Racial Discrim Case, EMPLOYERS ADMITTED FAULT!

Undervalued

BrassicWoman wrote: »

I think you are confusing "morally right" with "within the law."

They are not the same thing. If you expect a court to enforce moral justice, you are going to be very disappointed.

^^^^^ This! ^^^^^

Gavin83

CBoogie wrote: »

What I dont think you all are understanding, is that this happened in an open environment. So other colleagues had heard, management had heard and did nothing about it. discrimination of the nature with I endured is GROSS MISCONDUCT, but this did NOT happen here. IF MANAGEMENT HEARD THIS, IT IS THEIR DUTY AS MANAGERS TO DEAL WITH IT AS SUCH. It doesnt matter if it was 1 individual or 100. IT SHOULDNT HAVE HAPPENED AND OVER A PROLONGED PERIOD. The fact that the company is "offering me my job back, and they cannot understand why I wouldn't take it" shows they know little about what its like to be in an environment and be discriminated against almost on a daily basis. It's not a reasonable offer. Asking someone who has been assaulted in a house to go back and live there if they're homeless so they 'can have a roof over their head,' oh and they would get some money back to help them and its a 'reasonable offer' would be absurd. Or to tell an abused person that they should have reported abuse to the police when it happened, if you didnt its on you. I had just started this job, it was my first job in about a year, I have dependants. They could have EASILY managed me out of the company. I expected MY MANAGER who was aware to stick up for me. When he didnt and things became worse I left.

Honestly, I sympathise, the situation must have been awful but a lot of the above is irrelevant. Like Undervalued pointed out you asked for opinions as to your likely claim and I can't see anything wrong with the responses so far. You should have taken this down an official route ASAP, not resign and then raise a grievance. From a legal standpoint I can't see that this company has done much wrong. Regardless of their true feelings they've clearly taken advice on how to handle this situation in order to reduce their liability, or they do just genuinely care, but either way your chances at a tribunal aren't great.

I do disagree with Undervalued on one point though, I think a tribunal is likely to decide the company has acted fairly and not award you anything at all, not even the original offer. They could potentially even award costs against the company leaving you seriously out of pocket.

I'd seriously consider your actions from here. If you really don't wish to go back (I think this is a mistake, but it's your choice) then I'd ask for a little more money on top of the offer, say around £4k and push for that. They're likely to agree just to close the case. However I don't think you'll get £9k. However this is all my opinion, if you strongly feel you have a case then I wish you the best of luck.

shortcrust

BrassicWoman wrote: »

I think you are confusing "morally right" with "within the law."

They are not the same thing. If you expect a court to enforce moral justice, you are going to be very disappointed.

Spot on, and also misunderstand the function of the tribunal.

steampowered

Contrary to what was suggested by some other posters, employers are liable for race discrimination by their employees.

It is not necessary to prove that the employer as an organisation was negligent in order to win a discrimination claim.

As such it really doesn't matter whether the employer had the proper training in place or whether they dealt with it properly. Discrimination is discrimination, and the employer is liable.

I am also not convinced that an offer to go back to work would be enough to sink your claim. It doesn't sound like you'd have much difficulty explaining to a Tribunal why you did not want to return.

Fundamentally, you have two straightforward options:
1) Accept the settlement that has been offered.
2) Proceed to threaten and then issue a Tribunal claim. This could result in a better settlement, or it could result in a long process that ultimately requires you to attend a formal Tribunal hearing.

In terms of the quantum of your claim, it sounds like you are claiming £9k for the last 5 months of a 10 month fixed contract?

You could certainly issue a Tribunal claim against £9k lost pay PLUS additional damages due to the discrimination and stand behind that claim. But it sounds like you would run into issues at Tribunal around mitigating your loss. It sounds like you were fully entitled to terminate your contract early, but the Tribunal would expect you to take reasonable steps to find new employer. You can often get away with saying it takes 2-3 months to find a new job, but 5 months is quite a long time.

Personally, I would write a letter to the employer indicating that you intend to bring ET proceedings against them, claiming the £9k lost payment plus additional damages for discrimination, but would be prepared to settle for £x.

I would probably be prepared to settle for the £2.5k that was originally offered. This would have to be on the basis of an agreed neutral reference.

I know you were signed off-sick, but it is not the employer's responsibility to look after you while you were unwell - frankly you do need to get on with your life rather than dwelling on this.

Les79

steampowered wrote: »

I know you were signed off-sick, but it is not the employer's responsibility to look after you while you were unwell - frankly you do need to get on with your life rather than dwelling on this.

I agree with what you said, and to add that OP should consider seeking legal guidance on this matter. I'm not 100%, but a no-win-no-fee solicitor may fancy picking this up if they see a reasonable chance? They'll probably take like 25% of the 9k though but still £6750 left.

jobbingmusician

I'm not entirely sure what happened, and based on my (mis?)understanding of the situation I do have some sympathies with the employer.

What I think happened is that you were the subject of racial discrimination (which does sound extremely unpleasant) from at least one employee. You did not raise this with HR or raise a grievance and wait for it to be heard, rather, you raised a grievance and resigned. Did you serve your notice?


The employer took a month to organise a hearing from your grievance. Yes, bad, but the employer knew things weren't going to get worse in the interim because you'd resigned (unless you were still working your notice?) When they DID hear it, they offered to take quite positive steps to address their faults, and they offered you your job back (with back pay?)

There may have been some failure to consider how hurt you were by the discrimination (hence their surprise that you didn't want to go back. And for the record, I would agree that this surprise reflects badly on the employer.) However, I cannot see any justification in asking for your full contractual pay (ie the pay for the whole period) to be paid. Indeed, even if I thought that £9k was a fair payment (and I don't have a strong view on that because I don't know enough about how public the insults were, or genuinely how distressed you were by them) I would NEVER express it in that way - it would be £x for lost earnings plus £y for distress (as evidenced by such things as a report from your GP at the time, medication at the time etc.)

In my mind you come across as grasping by asking for your full contract payment, and I think a tribunal would be likely to see it that way. And, as other posters have asked, what steps have you taken to mitigate the loss of the income from this contract? What other jobs have you applied for?

flower77g

The original poster needs to look up "Vento Bands" for "injury to feelings" using google; from the description this sounds like something that could be the lower end of the middle band so around £9,000 if it completes a tribunal; as a discrimination case legal fees would eat up much of that if a solicitor was instructed and likely too low a value for an employment lawyer to do on a "no-win, no fee" basis. And this could be reduced by 25% for failing to follow the procedure correctly. If so, a settlement of around £2,500 is a bit low but not significantly so; there is nothing to stop the original poster counter-offering £3,000 to settle plus the cost of their legal advice to draw up the settlement agreement. From what is said, there is a real risk here of the original poster losing the case outright and having costs awarded for being unreasonable in pursuing the case to tribunal.

Masomnia

Employees should not have to deal with being racially abused at work and managers doing nothing; 'you should have complained' doesn't cut it.

I can totally understand why you would feel it would be too much stress to wait for a year and go through a hearing, you might not win etc. so you need to assess whether it's worth it for you, and if you do pursue it take advice. But if £2.5k is their starting offer then I think you'd be daft to settle for that straight off.

Masomnia

jobbingmusician wrote: »

In my mind you come across as grasping by asking for your full contract payment, and I think a tribunal would be likely to see it that way. And, as other posters have asked, what steps have you taken to mitigate the loss of the income from this contract? What other jobs have you applied for?

Possibly, but it depends on the wording of the contract. If there is no break clause and the employer fundamentally breached the contract then it's perfectly reasonable to ask for the whole amount.

CBoogie

Just wanted to update everyone, since its been a while since I posted. Defendants ended up settling for £9k. My advice would be to anyone who may see this in the future is to pursue it. I suffered a really hard time after leaving the role and this was a lovely amount to receive especially given the current circumstances . Don't let employers/employees make you feel guilty or gaslight you into thinking what you feel isn't valid!! here for help for anyone who needs it