Calderwood House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham GL50 1UA
Experiencing unfair treatment at work because of a protected characteristic? We help employees in Cheltenham understand their employment rights and potential claims involving workplace discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unequal treatment.
Equality Act Advice
Discrimination at work can affect far more than your working day. Being passed over for promotion, refused disability support or treated differently after announcing a pregnancy can undermine your confidence and put your career at risk. It can also be difficult to challenge someone who controls your work or future opportunities. Our employment solicitors take those concerns seriously. We give you space to explain what has happened and use our knowledge of discrimination law to assess whether the treatment engages your legal rights, rather than expecting you to identify the correct claim yourself.
We examine the decisions, explanations and evidence together, including how colleagues were treated and what happened after you raised concerns. Our legal advice can cover reasonable adjustments, a formal grievance, protection against retaliation and the options for seeking compensation. If you want to remain in your role, we consider what a workable resolution would need to achieve; if the relationship has broken down, we can advise on settlement or an Employment Tribunal claim. Throughout, our legal team explains what can be supported by the evidence, what your employer may argue and the costs and deadlines you need to consider.
Direct discrimination concerns less favourable treatment because of a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination can arise from a rule or practice that applies more widely but places a protected group, and the claimant, at a particular disadvantage. The employer may seek to justify some indirect discrimination as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The Equality Act also covers harassment and victimisation. Disability cases can involve discrimination arising from disability and a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
Employees, workers and job applicants may be protected, and a two-year service requirement does not generally apply to discrimination claims. Problems can arise in an interview, during probation, while employed, during termination and in some post-employment situations such as a discriminatory reference.
Employers can also be responsible for discriminatory acts carried out by employees during employment. Individual respondents may sometimes be named alongside the employer.
Discrimination is rarely admitted. Evidence may come from the timing of a decision, inconsistent explanations, treatment of colleagues, statistics, emails, messages, meeting notes and the employer’s response to questions or a grievance. A comparator may be important in some claims but is not required in exactly the same way for every protected characteristic or legal route.
Keep records lawfully. Taking confidential material or accessing systems without permission can create separate employment and data issues.
Disability cases require the particular duty or form of discrimination to be identified. A request for changes to hours, equipment, duties or a workplace procedure may engage the reasonable-adjustment duty where the legal conditions are met. The disadvantage, effectiveness of the proposed adjustment and the employer’s knowledge can all matter. A diagnosis alone does not answer every part of the assessment.
We can help explain the practical difficulty and the adjustment being requested, supported by relevant medical or occupational health information. Keep the request, any alternatives considered and the employer’s reasons. If absence, performance or dismissal is involved, those decisions may need reviewing alongside the request rather than treating the refusal as an isolated event.
A grievance is stronger when it identifies the treatment, relevant dates, people involved and why you believe the law is engaged. It should also explain what outcome you want, such as an adjustment, reconsideration of a decision or an investigation. The employer needs enough detail to respond fairly, but unnecessary allegations can obscure the strongest issues.
We can help prepare the grievance and consider the response, including possible victimisation after a protected complaint. Most tribunal limits starting before 1 October 2026 are three months less one day, increasing to six months less one day for limits starting on or after that date. Continuing conduct and separate decisions can complicate the calculation. An unresolved internal complaint is not a reason to assume the deadline is paused.
Unfair treatment is not automatically discrimination. A case can fail if the protected characteristic did not materially influence the treatment, the alleged disadvantage cannot be shown, a comparison is unsuitable or the employer establishes a lawful justification or relevant statutory defence. Evidence that supports another explanation may also weaken the inference of discrimination.
Time limits are strict and a grievance does not normally stop the tribunal clock. Ongoing conduct can raise complicated date questions, so each incident should be identified rather than assuming the whole history is in time.
A tribunal can award financial loss and, where appropriate, compensation for injury to feelings. Interest and other remedies may apply. Awards depend on evidence and are not automatic. There is currently no tribunal issue fee, but solicitor, barrister, expert and hearing costs may arise.
We can price an initial legal review, a defined piece of work or continuing representation after the scope and documents are known. The fee arrangement will be set out before paid work begins.
Equality Act Advice FAQs
Key points about protection, evidence, grievances, compensation and deadlines.
No minimum period of employment is generally required for a claim under the Equality Act. Job applicants, workers and some former workers can also have protection. However, you still need to establish the relevant legal test and act within the applicable time limit. The absence of a service requirement does not mean that all unfair treatment amounts to discrimination.
A case may rely on circumstances from which discrimination can be inferred, including inconsistent explanations, timing, comments and how other people were treated. Evidence must support the relevant legal link; suspicion alone is insufficient. Keep contemporaneous records and identify witnesses. We assess what the evidence shows and what explanation the employer is likely to offer in response.
Yes. Resignation is not a general requirement for a discrimination claim. Advice can consider a grievance, adjustments, workplace arrangements and tribunal action while employment continues. We also discuss how to communicate and preserve evidence without unnecessarily escalating the dispute. The aim may be to improve the working relationship rather than to bring employment to an end.
The employer’s actual or constructive knowledge can be important, particularly for reasonable adjustments and discrimination arising from disability. It is not the same issue in every disability claim. Medical information, absence discussions and requests for support may show what the employer knew or ought reasonably to have known. We can advise on explaining your needs and documenting the response.
Equality Act protection can apply during recruitment, including advertising, questions, assessment and selection. A disappointing outcome is not enough by itself; there must be evidence supporting a relevant discrimination complaint. Keep the advert, application, interview notes, correspondence and reasons provided. Act promptly because the time limit may begin before you learn everything about the selection process.
Victimisation protection can apply where someone suffers a detriment because they made or supported an Equality Act complaint or carried out another protected act. You do not generally have to win the original discrimination allegation to rely on that protection, though bad-faith false allegations raise different issues. Record the complaint and subsequent treatment, including who knew about it and when.
Some discrimination claims involve comparing your treatment with another person’s actual or hypothetical treatment. Other routes, including certain disability and pregnancy claims, use different tests. A colleague’s circumstances must be meaningfully comparable before the comparison helps. We identify the appropriate legal route first so that you do not focus on finding a comparator where the law does not require one.
Compensation for injury to feelings may be available in a successful discrimination claim, separately from financial loss. It is assessed against the evidence of impact and applicable tribunal guidance, rather than being an automatic fixed sum. Medical evidence may also be relevant where a separate injury is alleged. We distinguish the different losses and avoid counting the same harm twice.
Depending on the conduct and legal basis, an individual may be named alongside the employer. That decision should follow analysis of responsibility, the evidence and procedural requirements, including Acas where applicable. Adding every person involved can create unnecessary complexity. We consider who should properly respond to each allegation rather than treating individual liability as an automatic feature of the case.
No. An internal grievance does not ordinarily stop the tribunal clock. The date of the act complained of, any continuing conduct and timely Acas notification affect the calculation. Most limits starting on or after 1 October 2026 increase to six months less one day; earlier limits normally remain three months less one day. Do not assume all incidents are in time because the grievance remains unresolved.
Arrange a call with our employment solicitors or visit our Cheltenham office by appointment. We will discuss the issue, the documents needed and the scope and cost of any further work. Call 0330 900 0377, email info@pembridgesolicitors.co.uk or request a consultation.
A free 20-minute introductory consultation is available in suitable cases to discuss the main facts and consider whether you may have a claim. It provides limited introductory guidance; detailed legal advice, document review and further work are subject to an agreed scope and fee.
Pembridge Solicitors
Calderwood House, Montpellier Parade
Cheltenham GL50 1UA
Office visits by appointment.