Need help? Call 0345 838 4074 Register Login

Enforcement of rights

Introduction

An individual or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (the ECNI) may bring the enforcement of non-discriminatory practices. The ECNI has the power to investigate discriminatory practices and may serve a non-discrimination notice. It can also give assistance to an individual pursuing a claim.

Enforcement by an individual

A complaint must be made within three months of the act complained of, or within 6 months for unequal pay complaints. Although the tribunal has discretion to extend the time limit, an extension will only be granted if it is just and fair to do so.

Remedies

If a complaint is well founded, the tribunal may:

  • Make an order declaring your employee's rights
  • Order you to pay compensation
  • Make a recommendation that you take action to alleviate or reduce the effect of the act of discrimination on your employee

Failure to comply with such an order can lead to an increase in the compensation order.

In deciding the appropriate level of compensation, the following matters will be taken into account:

  • Monetary loss arising directly from an act of discrimination
  • Aggravated damages where you may have behaved in a high handed, malicious, insulting or aggressive manner
  • Injury to feelings
  • Interest will generally be awarded from the midpoint date between the act of discrimination and the date of the tribunal hearing

Removal of contractual term

You cannot insert a term into a contract that furthers or provides for unlawful discrimination, and such a term will be unenforceable against any person.

You can get more information from the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), which offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues. You can call the LRA helpline. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can help with advice regarding discrimination and equal opportunities.

What is the law guide

The Desktop Lawyer law guide aims to present the law to you in a comprehensive yet jargon-free and easy-to-read format. Our law guide is constantly kept up to date with changes in business and family law by our team of in house solicitors, and includes information across all the legal jurisdictions in the UK.

Our law guide is free to use. Where we provide documents related to this area of law, or where they may help you with any legal issue in this area, they will be listed to the right of this message.

Explore law guide

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We would also like to set some optional cookies. We won't set these optional cookies unless you enable them. Please choose whether this site may use optional cookies by selecting 'On' or 'Off' for each category below. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie notice.

Necessary cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functionality cookies

We'd like to set cookies to provide you with a better customer experience. For more information on these cookies, please see our cookie notice.