The claimant had been awarded damages for sex discrimination, including a sum of andpound;25,000 for injury to feelings. The respondent appealed.
Held: The Court of Appeal looked to see whether there had been an error of law in the employment tribunal decision. It did not look to see whether the Employment Appeal Tribunal had erred in law in reviewing that decision (Hennessy). This did not change with Civil Procedure Rules 52.11. Courts should be reluctant to award very substantial sums for injury to feelings. The most serious cases should be in the bracket andpound;15,000 to andpound;25,000, and the top figure should be exceeded only in the most exceptional cases. The court set out three broad elements of the compensation to be awarded in such cases. From andpound;5,000 to andpound;15,000 is appropriate for other serious cases. andpound;500 to andpound;5,000 is appropriate for not serious cases, including one off acts. A sum of less than andpound;500 should not be awarded, since this would appear an insult.
Judges:
Lord Justice Jonathan Parker, Lord Justice Mummery, Lord Justice Ward
Citations:
Times 27-Dec-2002, Gazette 13-Mar-2003, [2003] ICR 318, [2002] EWCA Civ 1871, [2003] IRLR 102
Links:
Statutes:
Civil Procedure Rules 52.11, Sex Discrimination Act 1975 66(4), Employment Tribunals Act 1996 21 35 37
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hennessy v Craigmyle and Co Ltd CA 1986
Sir John Donaldson MR said: ‘It is too often forgotten that, in the context of appeals from the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal is a second tier of the appellate court . . second tier appellate courts are primarily concerned with the . .
See Also – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire v Vento EAT 8-Jun-2000
EAT A claim was made for sex discrimination. The tribunal considered the approach to be taken in the absence of a real comparator.
Held: The tribunal had been correct to construct an hypothetical . .
See Also – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento EAT 19-Oct-2001
EAT Sex Discrimination – Victimisation . .
Appeal from – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento EAT 4-Dec-2001
EAT Sex Discrimination – Direct . .
Cited – Campion v Hanworthy Engineering Ltd CA 1987
The Court discussed the scope of the hearing in the Court of Appeal in an employment case. . .
Cited – Walls Meat Company Limited v Selby CA 1989
The court upheld an Industrial Tribunal decision that the dismissal of the employee was unfair where the employer failed to enter into any further consultation with the union or the employee after it had prepared a list of names of employees . .
Cited – Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge CA 24-May-2002
. .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Cannock and Others EAT 2-Aug-1994
Compensation awarded for a pregnancy dismissal was to assume that the worker would ready to work again after six months. Review and guidelines of damages for unfair dismissal for pregnancy. The hypothetical question requires careful thought before . .
Cited – Johnson v HM Prison Service and Others EAT 31-Dec-1996
Awards of damages for race discrimination were proper against both the employer, and an individual racist employee. 28k was not too much. Aggravated damages might be appropriate for direct discrimination where a complainant relied upon malice of . .
Cited – Heil v Rankin CA 13-Jun-2000
Where supervening events might contribute to the personal injury suffered, the proper approach in apportioning compensation in respect of one occasion was in general terms to provide just and sufficient compensation for the injury caused without . .
Cited – Alexander v Home Office CA 1988
Prisoners are a section of the public for the purposes of the 1976 Act. The Court increased an award for injury to feelings awarded for race discrimination by prison officers from pounds 50 to pounds 500. The court considered the appropriate level . .
Cited – Gbaja-Biamila v DHL International (UK) Ltd and others EAT 1-Mar-2000
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to Feelings
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to feelings. . .
Cited – North West Thames Regional Health Authority v Noone CA 1988
The question of whether an employer has acted in a racially discriminatory is to be concluded not as a matter of law, but from his behaviour and almost as a matter of common sense.
May LJ said: ‘As there is not often direct evidence of . .
Cited by:
Cited – British Telecommunications plc v Reid CA 6-Oct-2003
The respondent appealed an award of pounds 10.000 for damages for an act of direct race discrimination. The claimant, of Afro-Caribbean origin, had been subjected to a racist comment.
Held: Translating hurt feelings into hard currency will . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council CA 11-Feb-2004
Compensation for non-economic loss brought about by the manner of an unfair dismissal is, on authority and on principle, recoverable. The award of such compensation by the employment tribunal in the present case was not excessive and was adequately . .
Cited – Scott v Inland Revenue CA 2-Apr-2004
The employee had claimed damages for unfair dismissal. The Revenue had subsequently changed its policy on retirement, but did not disclose this to the claimant. The change would have altered the calculation of the damages.
Held: A calculation . .
Cited – Lambe v 186K Ltd CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant had been dismissed for redundancy, but the company had been found not to have consulted him properly, and he had therefore been unfairly dismissed. The tribunal had then found that even if consulted the result would not have been . .
Cited – KD v Chief Constable of Hampshire QBD 23-Nov-2005
The claimant’s daughter had made a complaint of rape. She alleged that she was sexually harassed by the investigating police officer, and sought damages also from the defendant, his employer. The officer denied that anything improper or . .
Cited – Miles v Gilbank CA 11-May-2006
The employee claimed she had been bullied by her manager after she became pregnant. She sought damages both from the employer and from the manager personally.
Held: The manageress was personally liable. The scheme for sex based discrimination . .
Cited – Martins v Choudhary CA 20-Dec-2007
The appellant appealed the award of damages for personal injury and harrassment. He was said to have driven the claimant off the road and to have made racist remarks. He had previously been found to be in contempt of court for breaches of . .
Cited – Abegaze v Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology CA 20-Feb-2009
In 2000 the claimant succeeded in his claim for discrimination, but had not pursued his remedy. He now appealed against a refusal to allow him to take it further. He had initially failed to pursue the matter for ill health. He later refused to . .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Fletcher EAT 9-Oct-2009
mod_fletcherEAT2009
EAT SEX DISCRIMINATION
Injury to feelings
SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION
Where there is overlap between the basis of aggravated damages and compensation for injury to feelings, double counting . .
Cited – Chagger v Abbey National Plc and Another CA 13-Nov-2009
The claimant appealed against the limitation of 2% placed on the uplift of his award of damages for having failed to comply with relevant dispute procedures. The tribunal had found exceptional reasons for reducing the uplift given the size of the . .
Cited – Milner and Another v Carnival Plc (T/A Cunard) CA 20-Apr-2010
Damages for Disastrous Cruise
The claimants had gone on a cruise organised by the defendants. It was described by them as ‘the trip of a lifetime.’ It did not meet their expectations. There had been several complaints, including that the cabin was noisy as the floor flexed with . .
Cited – Wardle v Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank CA 11-May-2011
The claimant had been found to have been unlawfully dismissed and to have suffered nationality discrimination. Each party appealed against aspects of the compensatory award including the application of the statutory uplift, and the calculation of . .
Cited – Cairns v Modi CA 31-Oct-2012
Three appeals against the levels of damages awards were heard together, and the court considered the principles to be applied.
Held: In assessing compensation following a libel, the essential question was how much loss and damage did the . .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Kemeh EAT 11-Mar-2013
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS- Agency relationships
RACE DISCRIMINATION
Direct
Injury to feelings
Accepted, in line with EAT authority, that common law agency principles apply to Race Relations . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Damages, Discrimination, Employment
Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178542