Sexual Orientation Discrimination UK: Tribunal Claims

Overview

Sexual orientation is one of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. The protection covers people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual, and it applies whether the discrimination relates to your actual orientation, an orientation someone wrongly assumes you have, or your association with someone of a particular orientation (for example, a family member or partner).

The Act applies at every stage of the working relationship: job adverts, interviews, terms offered, pay, promotion, training, dismissal, and even references given after you have left. It also reaches beyond conventional employees to cover workers, contractors in many situations, partners in firms, and job applicants.

Employers can be held legally responsible for what their staff do to colleagues during work, unless they can show they took reasonable steps to prevent it. Claims that cannot be resolved internally or through Acas early conciliation usually end up in the Employment Tribunal, which has the power to award compensation, including for injury to feelings.

Key steps

1. Keep a clear record of what has happened. Write down incidents as soon after they occur as you can, with dates, times, who was present, and what was actually said or done. Keep copies of emails, messages, rota changes, appraisals or anything else that supports your account. Contemporaneous notes tend to carry weight if matters progress.
2. Raise the issue internally where it is safe to do so. Most employers have a grievance procedure, and using it gives them a chance to put things right and creates a paper trail. Put your complaint in writing, reference the Equality Act 2010 if you feel comfortable doing so, and keep a copy of everything you send and receive.
3. Contact Acas for early conciliation. Before you can lodge a tribunal claim, you must notify Acas, who offer a free service to try to resolve the dispute without litigation. This step is mandatory and it also pauses the clock on your time limit, which matters because deadlines in discrimination cases are tight.
4. Submit an ET1 claim form within the time limit. Tribunal claims for discrimination generally need to be brought within three months less one day of the act complained of, adjusted for the conciliation period. The ET1 is completed online via gov.uk and sets out who you are claiming against and what happened.
5. Prepare for the tribunal process. Once your claim is accepted, the employer files an ET3 response, and the tribunal will issue directions on disclosure, witness statements and hearing dates. Cases can settle at any stage, and many do, but you should be ready to give evidence about what happened and how it affected you.