I Have Been Discriminated Against at Work

The Equality Act covers direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, on nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. Direct: treated worse because of the characteristic. Indirect: a policy applies to everyone but disadvantages those with the characteristic without justification. Harassment: unwanted conduct related to the characteristic. Victimisation: treated worse because you raised a discrimination concern. Write down: what happened, when, who saw it, what was said, and how it links to the protected characteristic.

Save: emails, messages, payslips, written warnings or reviews, CCTV requests (you have a UK GDPR right to access CCTV footage of yourself), witness statements (ask colleagues to write down what they saw or said), and a contemporaneous diary noting each incident with date and time. Make notes immediately after meetings — these carry much more evidential weight than a recollection later. If discussions happen verbally, follow up by email summarising what was said.

Submit a written grievance to your line manager or HR, following the employer's grievance policy. The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures requires the employer to investigate, hold a meeting, give a written outcome, and allow an appeal. The grievance does not pause the 3-month-less-one-day Tribunal deadline, but a failure to follow the ACAS Code can lead to a Tribunal uplift of up to 25% on any compensation awarded.

Before bringing a Tribunal claim you must notify ACAS Early Conciliation. Do this at acas.org.uk or by phone (0300 123 1100). ACAS will contact the employer and explore settlement. The Early Conciliation period pauses the Tribunal time limit by up to 6 weeks. You must start Early Conciliation within the 3-month-less-one-day window from the discriminatory act (or from the end of a continuing course of discrimination). For ongoing discrimination, time runs from the last act.

If ACAS settlement is offered (usually via a COT3 agreement), weigh it against the Tribunal outcome. Settlement: certainty, faster, often £2,000-£25,000 plus a reference and confidentiality. Tribunal: uncertainty, 6-18 month wait for hearing, but uncapped compensation for discrimination (unlike unfair dismissal which is capped at £105,707 or 52 weeks' pay), plus injury to feelings awards (£1,200-£58,700 in Vento bands), plus aggravated and exemplary damages in some cases. Discrimination cases have no qualifying service requirement and no capital cap on compensation.

After Early Conciliation ends, you have at least 1 month (the remaining time on your original 3-month clock plus the conciliation period) to file Form ET1 online at gov.uk/employment-tribunals. There is no fee since 2017. The claim must set out the protected characteristic, the alleged acts, and the relief sought (declaration, recommendation, compensation). The employer files Form ET3 within 28 days. A preliminary hearing usually follows to fix issues and disclosure.

Bundle preparation, witness statements, and disclosure are the bulk of the work. Consider a free or pro-bono representative: Free Representation Unit (FRU), Bar Pro Bono Unit, your trade union if you are a member, or a legal aid solicitor if you qualify (rarely available for employment except in discrimination cases involving very low income). The hearing itself usually runs 1-3 days. The Tribunal can award compensation, recommend changes to employer policy, and order reinstatement. Decisions are usually written and sent within 4-6 weeks of the hearing.