In his latest Coffee Break Briefing webinar, Frettens’ own Insolvency Guru Malcolm Niekirk looked at dealing with solvent liquidations with no tax clearance.
This is the summary of that briefing.
Three bands of compensation for injury to feelings
If an employee wins a discrimination claim, the employment tribunal will award compensation for injury to feelings. There are three bands:
- Top band for the most serious cases (currently £26,300 - £44,000)
- Middle band for serious cases not worthy of a top band award (£8,800 - £26,300) and
- Bottom band (£900 - £8,800) for less serious cases including one off incidents.
The award is based on the effect of the discrimination on the employee, rather than the gravity of the discrimination. The EAT highlighted this important distinction in Komeng v Creative Support.
Compensation for race discrimination
The employee won his claim for race discrimination. His employer had treated him less favourably than colleagues in relation to training opportunities and weekend work. In assessing compensation, the tribunal said that the treatment must have caused the employee 'significant upset and distress'.
They awarded compensation at the top of the lower band, £8,400. That equated to two thirds of his net annual salary. The tribunal said that they would have awarded middle band compensation if the training course could have resulted in promotion and the employee had been disappointed about that loss of opportunity. However, this argument had not been raised.
Discrimination affects individuals differently
The EAT upheld the award. The EAT said the employment tribunal's job was to assess the impact of the discrimination on the individual employee. All employees are different, and discrimination will affect individuals differently. The EAT noted that the employee had displayed remarkable resilience in the face of the treatment. They said the bottom bracket is not just for one off acts.
Sustained Discrimination Compensation Awards
This case seems to be a win for employers, with sustained discrimination falling into the bottom bracket for injury to feelings. However, the reason for this level of award was the employee's resilience, rather than the employer's actions. The impact on most employees would be greater, and so would the injury to feelings award.
Paul Burton, Head of Employment says “The best way for employers to protect themselves from paying out compensation for discrimination is to avoid discrimination in the first place. Clear policies and procedures, as well as training for management are two areas that can help prevent this.”
At Frettens, all of our solicitors offer a free initial meeting or chat on the phone to answer your questions. If this article raises issues for you or your business, please call us on 01202 499255 and the Employment team will be happy to discuss it with you.
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