Law Firm Discrimination Claim
In a landmark UK employment tribunal case, a paralegal has been awarded over £100,000 in damages after abandoning her aspirations of becoming a solicitor due to discriminatory treatment by her former employer.
One solicitor told her to remove her headscarf to attract men, according to the eivdence.
Ms F Kaiser, 48, won her claim against Ilford-based Khans Solicitors, successfully proving disability discrimination, sex discrimination, breach of contract, and automatic unfair dismissal.
The law firm, which was described at the hearing as a “predominantly Muslim business”, is a general practice that advises on divorce, wills and immigration with a significant south Asian clientele, with its lawyers speaking Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
It was claimed at the tribunal that a conveyancing solicitor at the firm, saw a photograph of Kaiser in which she was not wearing a headscarf. The tribunal said that the lawyer told her “that if she did not wear her headscarf, she could attract men”.
The tribunal also found that the firm had failed to provide Kaiser with written terms and conditions and itemized pay slips.
Kaiser joined Khans Solicitors in 2019 with ambitions of qualifying as a solicitor. She was forthright with the firm’s partners about a potential issue that could impact her path to admission. She requested a delay in signing a training contract to resolve this matter, to which the partners agreed.
Wage & Wellbeing Issues
The firm subsequently informed Kaiser that she would be employed as a caseworker at the then-national minimum wage of £8.21 per hour for a 35-hour week.
The tribunal found that the firm failed to pay those wages despite Kaiser working well beyond the stated hours.
The judgment highlighted the significant toll on Kaiser’s wellbeing, noting: “The claimant has had her confidence damaged as a result of the way she was treated by the respondent. In contrast to how she felt when she first began working for the respondent, she does not believe that she will qualify now, although we hope that she will, after sufficient time is passed.”
The tribunal awarded £25,000 for injury to feelings, noting that Kaiser had trusted the firm and worked diligently, often beyond regular hours and on weekends, in pursuit of her goal to become a solicitor.
“The claimant…inevitably suffered a sense of injury to herself and her sense of wellbeing and suffered from a deterioration in her mental health, as a result of the discrimination and the discriminatory dismissal. As a result of the treatment and her experiences at the respondent, she has given up her dream of becoming a solicitor.”
Khans Solicitors was ordered to pay Kaiser a total of £105,420.64 in damages and £3,600 in costs.
