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Race discrimination
Niki Walker, managing associate at Addleshaw Goddard, details the latest rulings.
Richard Ryan, associate, Helen Ward, associate, and Tori O'Neil, trainee solicitor, Addleshaw Goddard, detail the latest rulings.
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.
In Rank Nemo (DMS) Ltd v Coutinho [2009] EWCA Civ 454 CA, the Court of Appeal held that an employment tribunal had erred in law in refusing to accept a victimisation claim based on the respondent's failure to pay an award of compensation.
In Richmond Pharmacology Ltd v Dhaliwal [2009] IRLR 336 EAT, the EAT held that the employment tribunal was entitled to find that it was reasonable for a female employee of Indian ethnic origin to be offended by what she perceived to be a stereotypical reference to the possibility of her being "married off in India". This violated her dignity and amounted to unlawful racial harassment.
In Chagger v Abbey National plc and another EAT/0606/07, the EAT held that a claim of discrimination on grounds of skin colour inevitably involves a complaint of discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, thus engaging s.54A of the Race Relations Act 1976. In addition, allowing an appeal against an award of around £2.8 million compensation, the EAT held that the tribunal should have considered a Polkey-type question in relation to loss of earnings, and that recoverable loss should be limited to that flowing from loss of employment with the discriminator.
In Bayode v The Chief Constable of Derbyshire EAT/0499/07, the EAT held that, where alleged less favourable treatment consisted of accurate written records made by colleagues in their personal notebooks about aspects of a black police officer's behaviour that were of concern to them, the employment tribunal was entitled to find on the facts that the officer had no justified sense of grievance about the making of the entries and therefore had not suffered any detriment.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to race discrimination.