A recent ruling from the Equality Tribunal gives a good indication of the criteria to be satisfied before it is ruled than an employee suffered discrimination or victimisation. The case is a Labour Court decision (Ms Sundra Mullen v Apparel Supply Solutions Limited (formerly known as “Teamkit Limited”) EDA146) and was an appeal of an equality officers decision.
Background
The case concerned an employee who was Asian, who had been dismissed from her employment. She had worked at the company from November 1999 to May 2010. The employee referred to a number of incidents which she alleged were discriminatory and occurred between 2008 and May 2010. Examples of the incidents cited by the employee ranged from not being allowed to use her mobile phone at work, to complaints from other staff when she brought her radio to work. She also claimed that when she raised the issue of discrimination and victimisation with management in January 2009 it was ignored.
On 26th January 2010 the employee received a letter of complaint concerning her actions in the workplace signed by members of staff, who were all non-nationals. By letter dated 2nd February 2010 Management notified her that it had appointed a HR Consultant to investigate the complaints made about her alleged behaviour by her work colleagues. She received the investigation report on 11th March 2010. Two of the complaints were upheld: disorderly conduct while on duty and acts of intimidation, harassment, victimisation or discrimination. The Employee was notified that she was being dismissed for gross misconduct on 22nd April 2010 and she received a letter dated 10th May 2010 stating that her employment was terminated with immediate effect.
The employee claimed that this dismissal was due to her race and as such was discriminatory.
Tribunal Findings
The employee alleged that instances of alleged discrimination which dated back to 2008. However her claim before the Court was lodged with the Equality Officer on 4th August 2010, and so any instances of alleged discrimination prior to the period from 5th February 2010 to the date of termination of employment on 10th May 2010 (6 months from when the claim was lodged in August back to February) are outside the time limit prescribed by Section 77(5) of the Employment Equality Act 1998. The result is that “the Claimant can only seek redress in respect of occurrences during the six months period prior to the date on which the claim was received by the Equality Tribunal, unless the discrimination in issue is part of a continuum of events.”
The Tribunal found that in this six month period there were no instances of discrimination on the ground of her Race, and as such no connection from any incidents that happened prior to this to bring within the scope of the case. As a result the Tribunal found the original decision of the Equality officer to be upheld.
Employer Advice
It is important for employers to note that in order for a case to be satisfied under the Equality Act;
- First and foremost just because an employee within the definition of one or more of the nine discriminatory grounds this in itself is not enough to establish a case of discrimination. there must be a connection between any adverse treatment and the discriminatory ground in question.
- Secondly an incident that occurred within the six months prior to the lodging of any Equality claim must be found discriminatory before older incidents will be addressed to establish they are connected as per above.
