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Friday, March 16, 2007

Claimants may be barred from bringing discrimination claims

In the recent case of City of Bradford Metropolitan City Council v Ms E C Pratt (2007) the Employment Appeal Tribunal barred an employee from bringing a tribunal claim for equal pay on the basis that the employee had not fully set out her grievance in writing prior to bringing the tribunal claim.

The EAT set out that under the statutory modified grievance procedure employees must set out in writing and in reasonable detail the basis for a grievance before issuing discrimination claims in the tribunal. If the employee does not he/she will be barred from bringing the claim.

Such a grievance must be lodged with an employer within three months of the act of discrimination.

The case underlines the importance for employees of taking full legal advice from specialists before issuing legal procedings.