Employment Law News

Statistics on compensation awards out

The latest Equal Opportunities Review has published their 2012 statistics on compensation awards in discrimination cases. The total compensation awarded came to £5,268,597. Unlike unfair dismissal claims, compensation for discrimination is unlimited and covers both financial losses and ‘injury to feelings’. In 2012, there were two cases where the awards were in excess of £100,000.

Whilst it will come as no shock that massive awards of this level are extremely rare, employers need to be aware that awards for loss of earnings are higher than they were previously. Tribunals are increasingly upping the compensation awards to reflect the difficulties that Claimants face to find comparable employment in these difficult economic times.

Naturally the way to prevent this is for employers to be proactive about promoting equal opportunities, training in conscious and unconscious bias, implementing their policies and taking steps to address discrimination immediately as and when it arises.

For a more detailed analysis of the statistics, please read discrimination law specialist, Michael Rubenstein’s blog.