It has been long-established that it is unlawful for an employer or any of its employees to discriminate against another employee or worker by reason of their sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, belief, age or disabilty.  However, it may be less well known that, unlike unfair dismissal claims, there is no requirement for a minimum length of employment service to bring such a claim.  In fact, discrimination claims have succeeded in cases where the discrimination has occurred as part of the recruitment process and where the Claimant was not employed by the business.  It will come as further unwelcome news for employers to hear that an award for bringing a successful discrimination claim is uncapped and therefore, breaches of discrimination legislation can have serious financial implications.  Consequently, it is imperative that employers are aware of the risks of discrimination in their workplaces and that they manage any such issues appropriately.

The Employment Department has vast experience in both bringing and successfully defending discrimination claims on behalf of our employer and employee clients.  We understand that such claims can be quite stressful and challenging for those involved and therefore we ensure we handle such matters sensitively.  Our friendly team can assist employer and employee clients with discrimination disputes when they occur both in the workplace or following termination of employment.