Employment Discrimination Solicitors

Your first step should usually be to raise your concerns directly with your employer and give them the chance to resolve the issue internally. If this doesn’t lead to a conclusion that you’re happy with, you can start the formal grievance process.

If the formal process still doesn’t satisfy you, it’s time to consider going to the Employment Tribunal. The first step towards this is to start the ACAS early conciliation process. ACAS helps you and your employer to try and settle the dispute out of court. This process can take a month and can be extended by two extra weeks if you and your employer agree.

When the ACAS early conciliation process ends, you’ll be given an ACAS certificate. If your dispute is still unresolved at this point you can issue a claim in the Employment Tribunal. Your employer will get a copy of your claim and they have 30 days to send their defence.

The Tribunal will then set a date for a full hearing in six to nine months. We’ll work with you to prepare your case during this period. Going through the full Employment Tribunal process may feel long and stressful. We’ve been through it many times before so will support and guide you through each step.

It’s important to contact us as soon as possible. You have three months minus one day to from the last act of discrimination to start the ACAS early conciliation process. These time limits can come up very quickly, so you need to move fast.

If your claim goes to the Employment Tribunal or to court, the outcomes could be:

• Compensation
• Declaration of your rights
• Recommendation to your employer to stop the discrimination from happening again.

If we settle your claim through negotiation, we may be able to get a reference and an apology for you, as well as a confidentiality agreement and terms which protect your reputation. Reaching a settlement this way can be less stressful than going to court or the Employment Tribunal.

In our experience it’s also likely that you’ll receive a more favourable compensation settlement through negotiation. 

There are a number of ways you can pay for your legal work:

• Hourly rate – this is how most of our cases are funded. You only pay for the time you use
• Agreed fixed fees – in more complex cases it might be more cost effective for us to agree a fixed fee for your work
• Legal expenses insurance – this is legal cover that’s often a bolt-on to home insurance. It’s worth seeing if you have this as it may cover some or all of your legal fees
• Trade union membership – if you’re a member of a union, they might have something in place that pays your legal fees if you have an employment dispute
• Your employer – in some instances your employer may pay some of your costs (this can be the case if you are negotiating a settlement agreement)
• Third party funding – this is where someone who isn’t directly involved in your case agrees to pay your costs
• Crowd funding – it may be possible to crowd fund your case using the CrowdJustice website (particularly if it’s of public interest).

We can review your options in an initial meeting and let you know how to best pay for your case. It’s best to have any relevant membership/insurance documents to hand, as they will help us to understand any cover you already have.