The costs of adverse tribunal judgments

How costly can an employment tribunal be? Many employers worry about being taken to a tribunal and it’s a sensible option to plan ahead for the eventuality. A little research into average awards for various categories of Tribunal judgments reveals the following figures for 2014/15:

• Unfair Dismissal £12,362

• Race Discrimination £17,040

• Sex Discrimination £23,478

• Disability Discrimination £17,319

• Religious Discrimination £1,080

• Sexual Orientation Discrimination £17,515

• Age Discrimination £11,211

These awards are substantial sums and could cause problems for a small business struggling to keep its head above water financially. However, even a company that had prepared for awards at about the average could find the following awards a catastrophe that might be the finish of them. All these awards were made in 2015 and should be considered as a possibility by companies who suspect that they may be facing an Employment Tribunal.

J v H Ltd

An employee who was the mother of a disabled child was awarded £251,460 when the Employment Tribunal decided that her employer had handled her redundancy in a discriminatory manner.

Marcelin v Hewlett Packard Ltd

An employee who refused to consent to the release of a medical report and was subsequently disciplined for that and other things was awarded £239,913 for disability discrimination.

Sardari and another v South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and another

A senior NHS manager who raised concerns about a recruitment process that she considered biased was subject to a detriment for making what the Employment Tribunal said was a protected disclosure. As a result, she was awarded £228,778.

Jarrett v Essex County Council

A lawyer was made redundant and took her employer to the Employment Tribunal, claiming that the way the redundancy was handled amounted to racial discrimination and unfair dismissal. The Tribunal agreed with her and awarded her £116,097 in compensation.

Waddingham v NHS Business Services Authority

An employee undergoing treatment for cancer was required to go through a competitive interview process when the employer carried out a redeployment exercise. The Employment Tribunal said that the employer discriminated against the employee on the grounds of disability and awarded the employee £115,056.

A v S

An employee was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) and moved to a new role. Because of her illness, she had absences from work but because of the way that her employer handled the issue, she was able to show that discrimination had occurred. The Tribunal awarded her £192,656 in compensation.

Tirkey v Chandok and another

The claimant, who had brought a case of caste discrimination was awarded a total of £267,537.

Gilmore and others v Vodafone Ltd

An award of £264,349 was made to a team of five sales personnel who had been dismissed after raising complaints about the operation of a commission scheme.

Turner v DHL Services Ltd and another

The employee went off sick as a result of work-related stress and due to his employer’s lack of support, he was awarded £257,127 by the Employment Tribunal.

Nishioka v C&S Shops Ltd

A financial officer raised accounting concerns and was subsequently suspended and summarily dismissed. He was awarded £184,741 when the case came before the Employment Tribunal.

Asare-Brown v Mortgage 27 Ltd

The employer admitted at the Tribunal that it had constructively dismissed its employee, a web designer after non-payment of wages. The employer was ordered to pay £130,702.

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