How much would you have to pay if you lost a discrimination case at tribunal – what is it capped at?
Bad news – it is unlimited! Which is why all those female city bankers can claim millions of pounds in compensation.
What irritates me more is when the NHS, who should know better, do the same. There was a case recently where a female surgeon from an ethnic minority successfully won her case of discrimination AND harassment against the NHS.
Of course it wasn’t the organisation doing the discrimination. It was her fellow (male) surgeons. But the organisation failed to stop it happening.
The payout? £2.5 million! The NHS is always complaining about lack of money, but then does something this stupid. The payout doesn’t take into account the legal fees of course. Add another couple of hundred thousand on to the award.
The other downside of a discrimination case is that you are effectively guilty until proven innocent. You have to prove that you didn’t discriminate. They don’t have to prove that you did. Which is why it is essential to have a paper trail reflecting performance targets not met, meetings, deadlines, etc. Be able to prove it was due to poor performance, not because of them being pregnant.
