Make a Tribunal claim for direct disability discrimination

Specific things to consider in your direct disability discrimination claim

Laying out your claim

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

• During an interview, a job applicant informs the employer that they have multiple sclerosis. The applicant is unsuccessful and the employer offers the job to someone who does not have a disability. This could be direct disability discrimination if the less favourable treatment was because of the applicant’s disability.
• A single parent caring for a disabled child has to take time off work whenever their child is sick or has medical appointments. The employer appears to resent the fact that the worker needs to care for their child and eventually dismisses them. 
• An employer does not short-list an internal applicant for a job because the applicant has helped to set up an informal staff network for disabled workers. This could amount to direct disability discrimination whether or not the applicant themselves is disabled. 

With direct disability 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 disability discrimination claims, people typically refer to evidence such as text messages, emails, letters, meeting notes, medical evidence and witness evidence.

What you can ask for in your direct disability 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 less serious cases - £1,200 to £11,700
• for more serious cases - £11,700 to £35,200
• for the most serious cases - £35,200 to £58,700

For example, Jumana, an employee in a dessert shop, only worked there less than three months before she was dismissed by a text message from her line manager. Jumana had diabetes which meant that she had to take insulin injections on a regular basis. Her line manager told her in the text “I think you need to find a job more suitable to your health requirements”. Jumana told the Tribunal that she felt worthless and afraid that she would never find a job again. She was awarded £5,000, plus an ACAS uplift and interest, for injury to feelings. 

Real direct disability discrimination cases you can learn from

Summary: a police officer was refused a transfer because the Acting Chief Inspector believed her hearing might deteriorate in the future, making it difficult for her to carry out front-line duties. 

Total award: £26,616.05

Outcome: the police officer was successful in her claim of direct disability discrimination by perception. Even though the Acting Chief Inspector did not believe the officer was disabled at the time, the fact that she refused the transfer because of what she thought might happen in the future was enough to amount to direct discrimination.

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Summary: a job applicant was not hired due to the fact that he had been absent from his previous job for more than four months with mental health issues.

Total award: £4,410

Outcome: the Tribunal found that one of the reasons why the employer rejected the applicant was because of his mental health disability. This amounted to direct disability discrimination. He was also successful in a claim for disability victimisation, due to the fact that the interviewers were worried about his history of having raised grievances and a Tribunal claim against his previous employer.

Further reading

• Equality Act 2010 section 13
• Employment Statutory Code of Practice (pages 44-58)

Related Tribunal claims 

If you’ve faced direct disability discrimination at work, there are potentially a number of other discrimination claims that could apply to you:

• Victimisation - where you’ve been treated badly because you made or helped with a disability discrimination complaint.
• Harassment - where you’ve been subjected to behaviour that relates to a disability and is unwanted. This behaviour must make you feel, or be intended to make you feel intimidated, degraded, or offended.
• Indirect discrimination - where a company policy or practice negatively affects disabled people.
• Sexual harassment - where you have experienced unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or been treated less favourably because you have either submitted to or rejected sexual harassment, or harassment related to sex or gender reassignment. 
• Failure to make reasonable adjustments - where your employer has failed to make a reasonable change to help you to do your job, or apply for a job, to reduce the impact of your disability.
• Discrimination arising from disability - where you’ve been treated unfairly because of something connected to your disability rather than the disability itself. 

You may also be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal or another type of employment law. You can download your free Action Toolkit to find out more.