You don’t have to prove your manager meant to discriminate against you for it to count as harassment related to your race.
“HarassmentUnwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic, such as your sex, race, disability, age or religion, that violates your dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile or humiliating environment... related to race upheld; indirect discriminationA rule or policy that applies to everyone equally but ends up putting people with a particular protected characteristic, like age or sex, at a disadvantage. It's unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 u... and remedy remitted”
You don't need to prove your manager meant to discriminate against you for this to count as harassment. It's enough that their judgement about you was actually shaped by your race, disability, or another protected characteristicOne of the nine characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010 against which it is unlawful to discriminate. They include age, disability, race, sex, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. If yo....
- Keep a written record if a manager pressures you with threats of discipline during a bereavement or family emergency.
- Notice if your past record is being held against you more harshly than a colleague's would be.
- Get advice early. Unconscious-bias claims depend on the surrounding pattern of behaviour, which is easier to show the sooner it is documented.
The situation
An employee needed extra time to travel abroad, arrange his father's funeral, and support his mother. His employer required any quarantine time to be counted within authorised leave, and when it became clear he might need longer than planned, his line manager warned him by email, more than once, that going over that leave could mean disciplinary action, even dismissal. The manager held two earlier absences against him when deciding how hard to push, even though neither had led to a warning at the time.
What the tribunal found
The tribunal found those emails were unwanted conduct that put unnecessary pressure on the employee at a vulnerable time. It went further: the manager's harsh stance was shaped by a prejudicial view of the employee's history, and that view was itself influenced by the fact he was Polish and regularly needed to travel abroad for family reasons. That was enough to make the conduct harassment related to race under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010The main piece of legislation protecting employees from discrimination at work. It covers nine protected characteristics including age, disability, sex, race, and religion, and makes it unlawful for a.... The manager did not need to have meant to discriminate. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld this finding on appeal. A separate part of the case is still unresolved: whether the employer's leave policy indirectly discriminated against overseas staff has been sent back to a different tribunal to decide again.
For the fuller legal test behind this, see our guide on what counts as harassment at work. The same principle turned up in a case about a broken promise after maternity leave, if that's closer to your situation.
NSL Ltd v Zaluski [2024] EAT 86. Employment Appeal Tribunal. 5 June 2024.