Specific things to consider in your direct discrimination claim

Written by Danae Shell | Jul 24, 2025 2:47:43 PM

Laying out your claim for direct discrimination

When you are claiming direct discrimination at Tribunal, you want to clearly argue that you have been treated unfairly because of a protected characteristic. This is usually because of a protected characteristic that you have, but it could also be a protected characteristic that you are perceived to have, or because of someone you’re with or connected to. For example:

An employer recruits a man rather than a woman because they assume that women do not have the strength to do the job - this would be direct sex discrimination.
An employer rejects a job application form from a white man who they wrongly think is Black, because the applicant has an African-sounding name - this would be direct race discrimination.
The manager of a nightclub is disciplined for refusing to carry out an instruction to exclude older customers from the club - this would be direct age discrimination.

With direct discrimination, your employer can be liable for the acts of its employees, as well as the employees being personally responsible.

Proving your claim

You don’t need to attach evidence to a Tribunal ET1 claim, but it’s a good idea to back up your claims by mentioning the evidence you intend to use. For direct discrimination claims, people typically refer to evidence such as text messages, emails, letters, meeting notes and witness evidence.

What you can ask for in your direct discrimination claim

If you’re successful in a Tribunal claim, you will be awarded a “remedy”. This mainly includes financial compensation, like loss of earnings. It can also include some non-financial remedies too.

Common remedies people ask for at Tribunal

Some of the key remedies you can ask for at Tribunal are:

The money you have lost from being out of work, or working in a lower-paid job.
The money that you expect to lose in the future from being out of work, or working in a lower-paid job.
Wages that you are owed, including holiday pay and notice pay.

Discrimination-specific remedies

As well as the common remedies that you can ask for, discrimination-specific claims also have the option to include an “injury to feelings” remedy. This is compensation which you can be awarded when you have been hurt or distressed because you have been discriminated against.

Injury to feelings is generally awarded within one of three “Vento bands” depending on severity.

For example, 16-year-old Josip won £2,500 for injury to feelings when he was subjected to direct age discrimination. The company ended his apprenticeship contract stating that he “had a lot of maturing up to do”. As well as this he also successfully made a claim for breach of contract.

The Tribunal said the injury to feelings award reflected the damage to his confidence as described by him in evidence and as reflected in his giving up hopes of becoming a joiner and taking employment in a supermarket for now.

Real direct discrimination cases you can learn from

Summary: a female chef was denied the chance to work at a barbecue on the grounds that it was an all-male event.

Total award: £575

Outcome: the Tribunal found that not selecting her because of her sex was direct discrimination.

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Summary: a police force removed a narcotics police dog from a police dog handler after she informed them she was pregnant.

Total award: £11,000

Outcome: the Tribunal found that this amounted to direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination. On appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, they found that it was possible that this could also be indirect discrimination too.