Victim of workplace discrimination

It is direct workplace discrimination if you are treated less favourably than others at work due to your protected characteristic. On the other hand, it is indirect workplace discrimination, if you find yourself in situations, where the general application of rules (company policy/practice) to everyone, in the same manner, places you with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.

 

Informal complaint to your employer

You should informally talk with your manager or a member of the HR team about the problem and if the problem is not solved through informal complaint or if an informal complaint is not convenient for you, you can go for a formal complaint by writing a letter to your manager.

 

‘Raising a grievance’ - a formal complaint to your employer

You should inform the companies HR department that you wish to raise a formal grievance in the hope that they can suggest a remedy or initiate an apology. If discrimination continues then you should consider leaving the job and potentially consider legal action (claim has to be made within 3 months). While waiting for the outcome, you can commence ourselves to act as liaison to seek a workable remedy or, filing the employer’s willingness to agree terms we would assist you in lodging a claim with an employment tribunal. Even after legal action is started, you can still carry on negotiating with your manager.

 

‘Settling’ - negotiation with your employer to reach an agreement

Before going to a tribunal, negotiation with your employer should be tried as it is the most effective way to achieve your aim. Settling with your employer should always be an aspiration as a tribunal might not always end as you wish.

 

Alternative dispute resolution method - mediation

If you wish to take legal actions, you must claim within 3 months (minus one day) from the date the discrimination took place. If your workplace rights have been abused or ignored, your first point of contact should be your HR department or trade union representative. You should also consider mediation via Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1680

 

How we can help

Lestons can try and negotiate between both sides, if a formal solution cannot be found then we would assist to create a case for an employment tribunal. This is a free hearing that’s less formal than taking an action at a court. It is sensible to only start tribunal proceedings if other methods have not helped to solve your problem. Taking legal action at a tribunal becomes possible only after other problem-solving methods have been used.

 

You can either represent yourself at a tribunal or can be represented by an expert. If the solution of the problem through the above ways looks impossible then you could seek compensation and stay at your current place of work, or if you think the situation would be too uncomfortable you could leave your job and instruct your caseworker to file a claim for constructive dismissal. To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our legal team and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.