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Redundancy - racial discrimination?

Hi All. I was recently made redundant after being with my employer for just over 1 year and strongly believe I have been racially discriminated against and that has led to my selection for redundancy. I am now considering pursuing this through the tribunal route as the employer is not willing to partake in early conciliation.
I don’t really have any evidence other than my word against there’s; however, the makeup of the team alone would suggest it’s possible that the ethnic minority has been intentionally or otherwise excluded. Any ‘witnesses’ they have referenced in their responses are not independent and are clearly protecting themselves/their job and are implicated in the discrimination anyway.
At this stage, I am just trying to figure out if I am wasting my time applying to a tribunal. I think I have a good case, albeit with a lack of hard evidence (made more difficult by them withholding information on a data request that I know for a fact exists), but am concerned about possibly having to cover their costs. Their lawyer has suggested that there is ‘no prospect of success’ and I’ve read that if that is the case the tribunal might consider it to be time wasting and award costs.

Is it worth applying and checking if it’s rejected at the first stage? 
I don’t have any interest in paying for legal advice as I can see how any award I might received would be quickly eroded by their high fees!
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Comments

  • Do you have the selection criteria they used when choosing who to make redundant?

    "Cheapest to let go" springs to mind as an obvious criteria, at one year you have no legal entitlement to a payoff.
    2021 GC £1365.71/ £2400
  • LightFlare
    LightFlare Posts: 1,203 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Burnz0 said:
    Hi All. I was recently made redundant after being with my employer for just over 1 year and strongly believe I have been racially discriminated against and that has led to my selection for redundancy. I am now considering pursuing this through the tribunal route as the employer is not willing to partake in early conciliation.
    I don’t really have any evidence other than my word against there’s; however, the makeup of the team alone would suggest it’s possible that the ethnic minority has been intentionally or otherwise excluded. Any ‘witnesses’ they have referenced in their responses are not independent and are clearly protecting themselves/their job and are implicated in the discrimination anyway.
    At this stage, I am just trying to figure out if I am wasting my time applying to a tribunal. I think I have a good case, albeit with a lack of hard evidence (made more difficult by them withholding information on a data request that I know for a fact exists), but am concerned about possibly having to cover their costs. Their lawyer has suggested that there is ‘no prospect of success’ and I’ve read that if that is the case the tribunal might consider it to be time wasting and award costs.

    Is it worth applying and checking if it’s rejected at the first stage? 
    I don’t have any interest in paying for legal advice as I can see how any award I might received would be quickly eroded by their high fees!
    What end result are you looking to achieve ?
  • El_Torro
    El_Torro Posts: 1,714 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You say you have a good case but you also say it's your word against theirs and you have no hard evidence. 

    What makes your case strong?
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 17,484 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper PPI Party Pooper
    Under 2 years there is no entitlement to redundancy pay, so anything they are actually offering is ex-gratia rather than a legal entitlement.  As has been asked above, do you have access to the information used for terminating your employment?  Could it simply be a decision based on 'last in, first out'.
    On the face of it you would not seem to have a particularly 'good case' as by your own admission it is simply your word against theirs.  What do you base your claim of racial discrimination on?  Simply being a member of a particular ethnic group does not give any greater or less protection from redundancy or job termination.
  • Marcon
    Marcon Posts: 12,963 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Burnz0 said:
    Hi All. I was recently made redundant after being with my employer for just over 1 year and strongly believe I have been racially discriminated against and that has led to my selection for redundancy. I am now considering pursuing this through the tribunal route as the employer is not willing to partake in early conciliation.
    I don’t really have any evidence other than my word against there’s; however, the makeup of the team alone would suggest it’s possible that the ethnic minority has been intentionally or otherwise excluded. Any ‘witnesses’ they have referenced in their responses are not independent and are clearly protecting themselves/their job and are implicated in the discrimination anyway.
    At this stage, I am just trying to figure out if I am wasting my time applying to a tribunal. I think I have a good case, albeit with a lack of hard evidence (made more difficult by them withholding information on a data request that I know for a fact exists), but am concerned about possibly having to cover their costs. Their lawyer has suggested that there is ‘no prospect of success’ and I’ve read that if that is the case the tribunal might consider it to be time wasting and award costs.

    Is it worth applying and checking if it’s rejected at the first stage? 
    I don’t have any interest in paying for legal advice as I can see how any award I might received would be quickly eroded by their high fees!
    I don't think it would take a competent employment long to tell you the chances of success are close to zero, based on your post.
    Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!  
  • Ayr_Rage
    Ayr_Rage Posts: 1,937 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    @Burnz0 please do tell us the result this time, in your 2019 topic you just left it open with no conclusion.
  • Burnz0 said:
    Hi All. I was recently made redundant after being with my employer for just over 1 year and strongly believe I have been racially discriminated against and that has led to my selection for redundancy. I am now considering pursuing this through the tribunal route as the employer is not willing to partake in early conciliation.
    I don’t really have any evidence other than my word against there’s; however, the makeup of the team alone would suggest it’s possible that the ethnic minority has been intentionally or otherwise excluded. Any ‘witnesses’ they have referenced in their responses are not independent and are clearly protecting themselves/their job and are implicated in the discrimination anyway.
    At this stage, I am just trying to figure out if I am wasting my time applying to a tribunal. I think I have a good case, albeit with a lack of hard evidence (made more difficult by them withholding information on a data request that I know for a fact exists), but am concerned about possibly having to cover their costs. Their lawyer has suggested that there is ‘no prospect of success’ and I’ve read that if that is the case the tribunal might consider it to be time wasting and award costs.

    Is it worth applying and checking if it’s rejected at the first stage? 
    I don’t have any interest in paying for legal advice as I can see how any award I might received would be quickly eroded by their high fees!
    There is no entitlement to redundancy with less than two years service as you can be dismissed for any reason (or indeed no reason at all) just by giving you the required notice. The only exception would be if the real reason amounted to unlawful discrimination on a legally protected ground - such as race.

    You say "I don't really have any evidence" which almost answers your own question!

    Cost being awarded against the claimant at an employment tribunal is relatively rare but it can and does happen. Basically if your case is so weak that is should never have been brought (and particularly if you ignore clear hints from the judge at preliminary hearings) then you run that risk.

    So, yes you do need proper legal advice before you dig yourself into a big hole!

    A man who is is own advocate has a fool for his client!
  • Ayr_Rage said:
    @Burnz0 please do tell us the result this time, in your 2019 topic you just left it open with no conclusion.
    I completely forgot about this. The result was that my lawyer was able to encourage them to up their settlement offer so i was more than happy with the final figure, especially since I already had a job lined up before the redundancy was announced and was leaving anyway!
  • By a good case, I mean it’s not completely vexatious.
    The grounds of my claim are that the rest of the team exclude me by speaking in another language all day which I do not understand and excluding me from a chat group they are all part of. I complained about both things and there was no improvement.
    They’ve said the other language is used infrequently - the witnesses being the perpetrators themselves - but also that it reduced significantly after my complaint (which is slightly contradictory in my view). Also that i should of specifically raised it as racial discrimination when I complained, which, in my view, is an odd defence.

    If there are preliminary hearings then I will go for that and then drop it should it be clear at that point that I have no chance of winning.
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