deal with discrimination at work
Discrimination claims work quite differently from unfair dismissal. There is no qualifying period, you do not need to have been dismissed, and compensation is not capped.
The nine protected characteristics
The Equality Act 2010 protects age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Unfavourable treatment because of something outside that list, however unfair it feels, is not discrimination in the legal sense.
The forms it takes
Direct discrimination is being treated worse than someone else because of a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination is a rule applied to everybody which puts a group at a particular disadvantage and cannot be justified. Harassment is unwanted conduct related to a characteristic which violates dignity or creates a hostile environment. Victimisation is being punished for complaining, and it is protected in its own right even if the original complaint turns out to be wrong.
Disability adds a further duty. An employer must make reasonable adjustments, and a failure to do so is itself unlawful. This is the most frequently breached obligation in the whole Act, usually because nobody turned their mind to it rather than out of ill will.
No qualifying period, and no need to be dismissed
You are protected from the first day, and indeed before it, since job applicants are covered too. You can bring a claim while still employed, and many people do. The Act also covers workers, contractors and partners, not only employees.
Time limits
Three months less one day from the act complained of
Where discrimination continues over a period, time runs from the end of that period rather than from the first incident, which sometimes rescues an older complaint. A tribunal has a discretion to allow a late claim where it is just and equitable to do so, but that discretion is exercised sparingly and should never be relied on. ACAS early conciliation is compulsory here as well and pauses the clock.
How these claims are proved
Nobody writes the discriminatory reason down. The law recognises this by shifting the burden of proof: once you establish facts from which discrimination could be inferred, it is for the employer to prove that the treatment had nothing to do with the protected characteristic. That shift is what makes these claims winnable.
Practically, comparators matter, contemporaneous notes matter, and a grievance raised at the time is worth a great deal more than the same account given for the first time at a hearing.
What a claim is worth
There is no cap. Compensation covers financial loss, and separately an award for injury to feelings assessed in three bands: a lower band for one-off or isolated incidents, a middle band for serious cases that do not merit the highest award, and an upper band for the most serious and prolonged campaigns of harassment. The figures for each band are set out in guidance issued by the tribunal Presidents and are uprated each April.
Aggravated damages and, occasionally, an award for personal injury are available where the conduct warrants it. A tribunal can also make recommendations aimed at reducing the effect of the discrimination on you.
What to do now
- Write down what happened, when, and who was present, while it is fresh.
- Keep the emails and messages somewhere that is not your work account.
- Raise a grievance in writing, even if you have little faith in it.
- Note the three month deadline and notify ACAS well before it.
A note on this page
This is general information about how the law works in Scotland. It is not advice about your situation and it cannot be, because we do not know your circumstances. Nothing here should be relied on as a substitute for speaking to a solicitor about your own case.
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