Unlawful discrimination claims costs employers more than £4m in compensation

Employers paid more than £4m in compensation for unlawful discrimination in 313 cases in 2006, research has revealed. In one-quarter of the cases, the amount of compensation was 'uplifted' under the statutory disputes procedures – by as much as 50% in one-third of those cases – according to the survey by Personnel Today's sister title Equal Opportunities Review. Currently, tribunals can award an 'uplift' in compensation of between 10% and 50% to reflect the employer's level of failure to comply with the statutory procedures. In one case, the tribunal regarded the failure by a large employer to implement any kind of disciplinary procedure before dismissing an employee while on sick leave as a "worst case scenario", and increased compensation by 50% – an additional £35,000. The statutory disputes procedures were introduced in 2004 and have been dogged by controversy. The aim was to set in stone guidelines for disciplining employees and complaining about employers, and...

More at PersonnelToday.com