A former London park worker made redundant along with 23 colleagues has won a record £550,499.09p in compensation after an employment tribunal ruled that his former employer had discriminated against him because of his disability.
The man's union, the GMB, says the sum is the highest compensation payment ever awarded in a disability discrimination case. Three other claimants also won their claims of disability discrimination, but were awarded lower sums.
Awards for disability discrimination are notoriously difficult to predict. Figures released by the Tribunals Service show that just five payouts exceeded £50,000 last year, with the highest totalling £136,648. However, the median award for disability discrimination was slightly higher than for those in other jurisdictions.
Detailed guidance on the legal issues surrounding this area can be found in the XpertHR employment law reference manual chapter on disability discrimination (subscription required).
The claimant, who has not been named, was made redundant by Lambeth Serviceteam Limited, now Veolia Environment Services Lambeth, from his job as a gardener. He and his colleagues were based in various parks around the borough, including at Clapham Common and Kennington Green.
The GMB took all 24 claims to a tribunal, arguing that they had been unfairly dismissed. According to the union, the tribunal declared that "the results thrown up by the application of Lambeth Serviceteam's redundancy selection criteria were arbitrary and not consistent with the company's internal policies or its stated aim of achieving a commitment to horticultural excellence".
It also said that consultation with the four workers who claimed for disability discrimination had been inadequate given the nature of their disabilities. The man who received the record payout has learning difficulties. The four were awarded a combined total of £1.3 million.
Update: I understand the £1.3 million was the sum paid to all 24 claimants, not just the four claiming for disability discrimination.
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Comments (2)
I have been trying to get this same Union to fight my Disability Case, but they have done nothing and also claim that Disability Cases are hard to prove.
I think that Unions seem to only help people who will give them headlines like this.
Also the help differs, from area to area.
Seems double standards, but glad for those workers
Thanks
Posted by Bal | January 17, 2009 5:11 AM
Posted on January 17, 2009 05:11
I was discriminated against my employers, and have been involved in a Tribunal case against them for quite some time. However, I would like to point out that the largest payouts are a rarity. They do get a lot of coverage, but on average, people are awarded much smaller sums, and most employers don't leave much evidence of the way they treated the employee, and that could be quite difficult to prove in a court of law.
I do not believe that these cases are brought forward by a bunch of disgruntled workshy people with 'hurt' feelings. Sometimes employers can cause you such a sense of demoralisation, and subject you to things you know to be wrong, and it is more a sense of outrage than anything else that makes one take action. Employers involved in discriminatory practices deserve to be exposed and should be held accountable for their actions. most people do not seek payouts, and the Tribunals rules cleraly state that there must be evidence of the employee having tried to resolve the matter through the employers internal grievance resolution procedures. If nothing happens in spite of that, only then would the employee feel compelled to take it forward. In the first instance, f the employer admits the fault, and seeks to make amends, then this cases would not go to the Tribunal. What I find surprising is that where compensation claims are discussed online, the employer almost always gets the sympathy. If the employer was genuinely found at fault by a neutral legal body, over factual and substantive evidence, why do people continue to feel the employer was hard done by? This truly baffles me and that is one of the reasons why this country is going down the toilet. Many people who support employers of disrepute without bothering to find out exact details of such cases, need to have a reality check because if they were the ones subjected to the abuse, they would also be the first to complain. We don't have a compensation culture, but we now have a society that is learning about their rights and are not afraid to use them. In the end, empowered people everywhere can now make people accountable for their actions, and it is only through such actions that people will learn not to dscriminate because if you do, it may be to the tune of quite a few sterling pounds. I, for one, have no sympathy for my employers. I worked hard, I was reasonable and put up with their abuse for a lot longer than I should have. I even pleaded with the employer to resolve the issue internally but they were not willing to accept, in spite of evidence I had. In the end, I did not want to take them to cort, but neither do I want them to get away, so I am going to take it further and if I get my compensation, I would know I deserved it for being put through months of agony, stress and misery. Contrary to what many may think, it is not just 'a part of life'. Being treated like crap is not 'part of life', and if you think that, keep having your nose punched in by the bully.
Posted by Yuko | April 13, 2011 5:25 PM
Posted on April 13, 2011 17:25