Features of Cases and Outcomes at the Employment Tribunal

This chapter, the first of four empirical chapters, focuses on the features of cases and the characteristics of claimants in disability discrimination cases at the Employment Tribunal in England and Wales. The analysis is set in the context of the literature on stigma and focuses on six potential barriers to justice, namely the lack of attention paid to stigma in the Equality Act 2010; the strict legal tests that a claimant must surmount before discrimination can be proved; the particular legal difficulties faced by those with mental health conditions; restrictive judicial decisions; a lack of experienced judges and a lack of legal representation for claimants. Analysing over 750 judgments, the chapter examines the characteristics of claimants (gender, type of impairment and sector of employment) and the factors associated with the failure of cases to determine which of these potential barriers to justice are relevant to claims of disability discrimination at the Employment Tribunal. We find restrictive judicial decisions, complex legal tests, inequality of arms between claimant and employer and the stigma attached to claimants with mental health impairments indicate barriers to justice for claimants lodging claims for disability discrimination at the Employment Tribunal.