A series of inappropriate comments about race by blue-collar workers, not necessarily directed at the claimant, were harassment, holds the employment tribunal.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the employment tribunal was correct to reject a claim of race discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA) against an employer that failed to take action to prevent third-party harassment.
The industrial tribunal in Northern Ireland has awarded over £52,000 for sex and race discrimination after an employer ignored complaints from a Polish female worker that she was being subjected to serious sexual and racial harassment in the factory in which she worked.
The Court of Appeal has held that, where a claimant is alleging that separate incidents form one continuous act for the purposes of extending the normal time limit within which to bring a claim for racial discrimination, a relevant but not conclusive factor is whether the same individuals or different individuals were involved in the separate incidents.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that employees, who successfully claim discrimination, are entitled to be compensated for any injury to health or injury to feelings caused by the act complained of, even if they were unaware that the act complained of was discriminatory.
In Chagger v Abbey National plc and another [2009] EWCA Civ 1202 CA, the Court of Appeal confirmed that employment tribunals should ask a Polkey-type question when considering loss of earnings flowing from a discriminatory dismissal. The Court also ruled that, in appropriate cases, compensation for loss of earnings may include an element of "stigma" loss.