Information & advice

Have you experienced age discrimination at work, when applying for a job or in education or training?

If so, there are certain procedures you’ll need to follow:

1. Raise the subject informally with your employer

2. Use your employer’s grievance procedure

3. The right to appeal

4. The questionnaire procedure

5. Taking a claim to tribunal

Procedure for making a claim about education or training

Generally, if your claim is against your current employer, you won’t be able to start the claim at the tribunal claim unless you’ve attempted to resolve the dispute first of all through your employer’s grievance process.

 

1. Raise the subject informally with your employer
First of all, you should raise the problem informally with your manager. 

2. Use your employer’s grievance procedure
If the problem is not resolved informally, you should make a formal complaint using your employer’s grievance procedure. Remember:

• your employer is required by law to have a grievance procedure in place
• you should put your grievance in writing - your employer must then arrange a meeting to discuss it with you
• you have the right to be accompanied at this meeting by a colleague or a union representative
• contact your union for advice on using the grievance procedure if you are a union member

If your complaint is:

• against a training or education provider, you could try using their complaints procedure if they have one
• about dismissal, or discrimination when applying for a job, you do not have to use the employer’s grievance procedure

3. The right to appeal
If you’re not satisfied with your employer’s decision following the meeting to discuss your grievance, you have the right to an appeal meeting with your employer, and again you have the right to be accompanied.

4. The questionnaire procedure
If you need more evidence or information in order to decide whether you should bring a claim at the employment tribunal under the regulations, there is a questionnaire procedure you can use in order to request information from your employer, or the person who your claim would be against.

Click here to download the questionnaire, (produced by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform).

The questionnaire is particularly useful if you think you’ve been discriminated against when applying for a job, but have no firm evidence of this.

You should send the questionnaire before starting a tribunal claim, or within 21 days of submitting your claim to the tribunal. If the employer fails to respond to your questionnaire within eight weeks, or they give evasive answers to reasonable questions, you can ask the tribunal to infer that the employer has discriminated against you, in the absence of an explanation to the contrary.

For example...

You could ask the employer why your application was not successful, and to provide information such as the ages of other applicants, the age of those invited for interview and the age of the successful applicant.  This information could suggest that no discrimination took place, for example if there was a good reason that you were not offered the job, or the person who was hired was actually older than you.  Or it could provide evidence to suggest that discrimination did take place, for example if only applicants under a certain age were invited to interview, and you were more qualified than the successful candidate.

You may want to seek advice before using the questionnaire procedure.

 

5. Taking a claim to tribunal
To start a claim at the employment tribunal for discrimination, harassment or unfair dismissal, you must complete the application form ET1 and return it to the tribunal office within three months of the date of the discrimination or dismissal. The time limit is the same for most other types of claim, but for claiming a redundancy payment, the time limit is six months rather than three.  (For information about bringing a claim relating to education or training, see below).

You are expected to use your employer’s grievance procedure before applying to the tribunal, unless your claim is about recruitment or dismissal.  You should submit your grievance in writing and then allow at least 28 days to pass before submitting your application to the tribunal. 

The three month time limit can be extended, to allow you time to follow the grievance procedure, in the following circumstances:

• If you have submitted your grievance in writing to your employer within three months from the date of the discrimination, you will automatically get an extension of another three months in which to submit your tribunal application. 
• If you submit your application within the initial three months, without having first tried to follow your employer’s grievance procedure, your application will be returned to you, and you will be given an extension of a further three months, as long as you start your grievance within one month of the original three month deadline.

It is extremely important that you get your form to the tribunal before the relevant time limit expires, as your claim will almost certainly not be considered if it is late.  If you are in any doubt about which time limit applies to you, you should seek expert advice.  The main thing to remember is not to leave it too late before getting help.

You can obtain an application form (ET1) from the tribunal office (public enquiry line 0845 795 9775) and return it by post, fax, or by delivering it by hand; or you can complete and submit the form online at http://www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk/

6. Conciliation through ACAS
If you start a claim, an ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) officer will contact both you and your employer and will act as a mediator between you, to attempt to reach an agreement to settle the dispute.

ACAS is an independent publicly-funded organisation with a duty to attempt to help the parties in an employment dispute to reach a settlement, before the case is decided at a hearing at the employment tribunal.

 

How to make a claim about education or training

If your claim relates to an education or training course provided by a further or higher education institution, this must be made at the County Court (Sheriff Court in Scotland), rather than at the Employment Tribunal. You’ll need to complete claim form N1, giving details of your claim. The time limit for starting your claim is six months from the date of the discrimination.

 

Free mini-guide to age discrimination at work

You can download all the information in this section in our mini-guide to age discrimination, or you can order a copy  from our freephone Information Line on 0800 00 99 66.

Find out more about the age discrimination law

 

 

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