Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
It is being reported that a sacked Harrods worker is suing his ex-employer for the princely sum of £1m:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11751167/Harrods-worker-sacked-for-eating-cake-sues-store-for-1m.html
Chilean national Mr Mackenzie claims he was discriminated against by colleagues between July and October 2014 due to his race, age and sex.
Right.
Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the case you do wonder how on earth a Claimant has got himself into a position where he can be seeking such a sum in the Employment Tribunal. His salary was apparently equivalent to £24,000/annum.
It is worth considering that the Employment Tribunal has published statistics on the level of awards made by the Employment Tribunal for the period from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.
The maximum awarded, lowest and average awards for discrimination claims are set out below.
For race discrimination the maximum obtained was £162,593, lowest £5,513 and average was £11,203.
For sex discrimination the highest award was £168,957, lowest £8,039 and average £14,336.
For age discrimination the highest was £137,000, lowest £6,000 and average of £18,801.
I am not in Employment Tribunal but I have instructed the Harrods barrister, Ed Capewell and know him to be excellent.
From my experience I know Employment Tribunal Judges do not like Claimants who try it on and even if Mr Mackenzie wins I would be astonished if he gets anything like the level of damages he is seeking.