Court of Appeal rules financial loss should include stigma from bringing discrimination claim
Employment tribunals should take into account the stigma of bringing a discrimination claim when assessing financial loss, the Court of Appeal has held.
In Chaggers v Abbey National, the employment tribunal upheld Abbey National employee Balbinder Chaggers’ claim that his selection for redundancy was motivated by race. He was awarded £2.79m on the premise he would never again be able to find employment in his chosen field of the financial services industry.
Abbey contended that Chaggers would have been made redundant anyway, and that they should not be held responsible for the stigma attached to legal claims by others.
Chaggers countered that he should be compensated for the full loss of the discrimination. He claimed he was discriminated against by potential employers because of the stigma of bringing a claim, the length of time he was unemployed, the issue surrounding his departure and the fact he was applying for jobs that would normally be filled internally.
In an important ruling on the calculation of financial loss in discrimination cases, the Court of
