In the past, employees took an employer’s word for law and rarely questioned them. With the recent push towards employee rights and the increased knowledge of what a worker should expect from their employer, more companies are now getting sued by their workers.
One of the most common issues that an employer might find themselves on the defence is workplace discrimination. Some employers have in the past decided to get a mediator and resolve this issue in-house so that as few parties as possible know about it.
Without lawyers in London for your alternative dispute resolution out of court or to defend you in court, an employment discrimination case cannot be efficiently handled. In fact, it might be the primary cause of your company’s downfall as clients will not want to be associated with you while potential employees will shun you.
To minimise or negate the legal consequences when convicted of employee discrimination, the following are some of the defences your attorney might recommend:
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)
This is based on a legal limitation on an applicant’s qualification for a specific job. There is, for instance, a legal age limit on the retirement age of a pilot. You cannot be employed if you reach this age regardless of your qualifications. This would be considered a legal disqualification from employment rather than employee age discrimination. Most BFOQs are based on sex and age limitations rather than disability, race, or religion.
Employee Performance
When fighting a wrongful termination case in employee discrimination, their job performance can be one of the defences you can use. You need to keep detailed employee performance records based on their insubordination instances, absence rates, and ability to follow your company’s policies. There also exists a specific number of warnings for the above issues before the termination of an employee’s contract.
Failure to Notify an Employer
Before an employee files an employment discrimination claim with authorities, they should have first notified an employer of the same. If you did not get any notification that the employee felt discriminated and was not given adequate time to address the issue, you could get the claim negated. You should have proof of what you are doing to solve the problems for this defence to apply in your case.
Failure to Meet Legal Requirements
There are various recommendations set by international employee bodies on a claim against organisations that will be considered valid. If a worker fails to adhere to any of these statutory requirements, then the complaint can be dismissed. Though there exists a different avenue for filing the claim after dismissal, such as suing an individual employer rather than a company, this is generally expensive for an average worker.
You cannot afford to wish employee discrimination claims away or threaten your workers into silence with the current stringent employment rules. Responding and defending your company against employment discrimination claims requires a proactive approach and the best lawyers available. With the above options, you can guarantee that an employee’s discrimination claim does not hurt your profits or paint you in a poor light to prospective employees.
