Laying out your claim
When you are claiming direct race discrimination at Tribunal, you want to clearly argue that you have been treated unfairly because of race. This is usually because of your own race, but it could also be a race that you are perceived to have, or because of the race of someone you’re with or connected to. For example:
- An employer advertising a vacancy makes it clear in the advert that Roma need not apply.
- 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.
- A company which employs predominantly British staff recruits Polish nationals and seats them in a separate room nicknamed ‘Little Poland’.
With direct race 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 race 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 race 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, Carla was awarded £42,809.32 plus interest for injury to feelings after she was subjected to numerous different acts of race and age discrimination. This included direct race discrimination when she was humiliated after a colleague made 2 nasty comments related to her race in front of other colleagues. She also made complaints of sex discrimination, which were not successful.
Real direct race discrimination cases you can learn from
Total award: tbc
Outcome: the Bangladeshi security guard was successful in arguing that his dismissal amounted to direct race discrimination. He had also made 2 other direct race discrimination claims which related to a written warning, but he was unsuccessful in those.
Total award: tbc
Outcome: the soldier was successful in his claim for direct race discrimination due to the mistaken observation. He also made two other direct race discrimination claims, which were dismissed.