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If you feel that you are being treated unfairly by your employer or work colleagues because of your sexual orientation, you may have a claim for sexual orientation discrimination. In addition, if you have suffered harassment because of your sexual orientation you may also have a claim. Please contact one of our advisers to discuss. The Employment Tribunal has very strict time-limits for makings claims; usually three months less one day from the date of your complaint. It is therefore important you seek advice as soon as possible.
Mr X came to see us for a Fixed Fee Interview. He explained that he had been employed as a Chef at a local Hotel. However, from the moment he started work, his life had been made a misery by the Head Chef and the Head Waiter. Mr X had only been employed at the Hotel for a few months before deciding he could take no more and leaving his job. He was obviously very distressed at the meeting. It was some time before he could tell us what had happened. He began by saying he didn’t think there was anything that could be done, but he didn’t want anybody else to suffer the way he had.
Mr X had been referred to the Hotel by the Catering College he attended. This was his first full-time job after leaving school. He knew that getting experience in a working kitchen would help him with his studies. He recalled that the first couple of days he was there the Head Chef and Head Waiter started to bully him. Mr X was very slightly built with blonde curly hair. Unfortunately, the Head Chef and Head Waiter considered that his build and hair colour meant that he was “gay”. They then proceeded to make offensive and derogatory comments to him in front of other staff. They regularly suggested that he “fancied” either one of them and advised other members of staff to “look out”.
The bullying he suffered intensified over the next few weeks. Mr X had a work book that he completed for his College course which included the tasks he had undertaken throughout the day. This was a formal diary he kept in support of the qualifications he hoped to get at Catering College. However, this did not stop the Head Chef and Head Waiter drawing obscene pictures and writing cruel and offensive messages in the work book.
Matters came to a conclusion when Mr X was working in the kitchen one evening. He went into the stock room followed by the Head Waiter. Mr X suffered a serious and distressing sexual assault. This was done in the name of “good fun”, “a joke” and “having a laugh”. The incident was witnessed by the Head Chef who found it very entertaining, as did other senior members of staff who saw or heard about the assault. Mr X left his employment that evening and immediately told the General Manager what had happened. He also stated that he would be reporting the assault to the Police. The General Manager tried to suggest that he was taking the joke “out of proportion”. Mr X felt very let down that he was not offered any support. At no time did the General Manager suggest that he would take any action against the Head Waiter or the Head Chef. Indeed, when the Police did attend the Hotel the General Manager contacted Mr X and shouted at him for making a formal complaint. As a result, Mr X felt he could not continue working for the Hotel and submitted his resignation.
Mr X assumed from his research on the Internet that he would not be able to claim unfair dismissal as he did not have a full year’s service with the Hotel. We explained there were exceptions to the one year rule which we thought applied to him. Also, we considered he had a claim for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. He told us he wasn’t gay, but we explained that it did not matter for the purposes of making his claim. Unfortunately, Mr X did not have the means to pay privately for representation; nor did he have legal expenses insurance. We therefore agreed that he would fund his claim by way of a Contingency Fee Agreement. This meant we would retain a percentage of any monies we recovered for him. We subsequently submitted a claim on his behalf. Mr X was delighted when the Hotel made a compensatory payment without him having to attend a hearing at the Employment Tribunal.
It is unlawful to for your employer to discriminate against you on the grounds of your sexual orientation (or your employer’s belief about your sexual orientation).
There are 3 kinds of unlawful discrimination on this ground. These are:
If you have suffered discrimination, you can bring a claim against your employer and the person who has discriminated against you.
There is no requirement for you to have been employed by your employer for any length of time before you can bring a claim for discrimination. In fact, there is no need for you to actually be an employee. You can bring a claim for unlawful discrimination if:
If you are successful in proving you have suffered unlawful discrimination, an Employment Tribunal may award you compensation. This is usually compensation for the losses you may have suffered and an award for injury to feelings. There is no limit to the amount of compensation that can be awarded for sexual orientation discrimination.
