Category: Discrimination Q&A

I have been working 10 years for the same company who is now cutting stuff. I am now facing redundancy due to a physical disability . There are jobs I can do but because i have no experience my employer is not considering my application.

June 26, 2010 by Anonymous

It would seem that you may have been selected for redundancy by reason of your disability. If this is the case then your dismissal will be automatically unfair and an industrial tribunal would order what is likely to be very substantial compensation.

I am a single mother with two young children under five. I recently asked my employer to allow me to work one day a week at home. This would be quite possible but he has refused to even consider it. Do I have any rights?

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

You have the right to ask for flexible working conditions because you have a child under the age of six. Your employer is legally obliged to give your request serious consideration providing you have worked for your employer or at least 26 weeks.

The local authority has advertised for a manager in its housing department. I am fully qualifying for this post but they are insisting that the successful candidate should be from an ethnic minority.

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

In certain welfare jobs, but not in managerial jobs, requirements as to race do not constitute discrimination. In this case however it would seem that if your application is turned down out of hand because you do not qualify on the grounds of race you have a legitimate cause for complaint to a tribunal.

I am doing exactly the same work as a male colleague but am paid less. Can this be right?

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

Under the Equal Pay Act 1970, women have the right to receive the same pay as men if they do the same or comparable work. Providing you do equivalent rated work to your male colleague, you are entitled to equal pay.

I work in a top grade hair salon. Last week I told my boss that I was pregnant. This morning I have received a letter telling me that I must leave as being pregnant I could not do my job. Are they allowed to dismiss me?

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

No. Dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy is automatically unfair however long you have worked for the firm. A tribunal would order your employer to pay you compensation for this dismissal.

I was discriminated against at work by my supervisor, she did not like having a white woman in her all black office. She made many racist remarks about white women in general in the office and directly to me. she had my co workers remove my chair from the office and disenfect it saying that I stank unbearably, when I got upset and was in tears I told her I was going home to compose myself and she fired me. I live in a small community where I am one of a very few whites, this incident has severly affected my personal and professional reputation and my subsequent financial downfall has fractured my family and has left me homeless as of tomorrow. I want to file a civil suit but cannot afford a lawyer, what do I do? how can I file one by myself?

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

It would seem that you have been treated quite shamelessly and there can be no doubt whatsoever that this racial discrimination entitles you to punitive damages.

We have a small fund which enables us to assist people who have been treated in such a disgusting fashion and where the legal remedies are clear. If you care to get in touch with us directly we will be pleased to help you bring an action for racial discrimination before a industrial tribunal.

My wife (A)( was successful in getting a job with O2 in Bury in March of this year and was told that because she was disable she wouldn't be given a start date until she had had 2 assessments. A is actually registered blind and has a disease called Stargards, which is a genetic disorder in that her retina was not formed properly. JulieAtowards the middle of July which is nearly five months since she was offered the job. We have today found out that o2 have frozen their recruiting and frankly if she didn't have a disability then she would have been in the job four months ago. What I am seeking is if this grounds for disability discrimination and if their is any way of suing o2. It took A the best part of 6 years to pluck up the courage to go for a job in the first place and the fist one to accept is doing this. It has dented her self confidence and her self esteem.

November 27, 2008 by Anonymous

I have no doubt whatsoever here that your wife has been treated illegally by 02 and that she has a claim against them. She was offered employment with a starting date to be fixed. This company thereafter failed to comply with the contract for employment entered into or to offer a starting date within a reasonable period. It is fair to consider that the only reason for this could be her disability. Had she not been disabled there is no reasonable doubt that the employment offered would have commenced. I have no doubt that she has been discriminated against by reason of her disability.