Hi, sorry I was offline by the time you had replied and have only just returned. It is difficult to say whether you should raise the issues with the employer know because I cannot predict what the employer’s response would be and if there is a genuine risk of further retaliation. So you would be a better judge of that and all I can really discuss is the legal position should they decide to retaliate and perhaps end up making your position in the company untenable.
If they do go ahead and retaliate, this could potentially amount to constructive dismissal, which occurs when the following two elements are present:
- Serious breach of contract by the employer; and
- An acceptance of that breach by the employee, who in turn treats the contract of employment as at an end. The employee must act in response to the breach and must not delay any action too long.
A common breach by the employer occurs when it, or its employees, have broken the implied contractual term of trust and confidence. The conduct relied on could be a single act, or a series of less serious acts over a period of time, which together could be treated as serious enough (usually culminating in the 'last straw' scenario).
The affected employee would initially be expected to raise a formal grievance in order to officially bring their concerns to the employer's attention and give them an opportunity to try and resolve them. If the issues are so bad that the employee can't even face raising a grievance and going through the process, or if a grievance has been raised but has been unsuccessful, then they can consider resigning straight away.
If resignation appears to be the only option, it must be done without unreasonable delay so as not to give an impression that the employer's breach had been accepted. Any resignation would normally be with immediate effect and without providing any notice period. It is advisable to resign in writing, stating the reasons for the resignation and that this is being treated as constructive dismissal.
Following the resignation, the option of pursuing a claim for constructive dismissal exists. This is only available to employees who have at least 2 years' continuous service. There is a time limit of 3 months from the date of resignation to submit a claim in the employment tribunal.
An alternative way out is to approach the employer on a 'without prejudice' basis (i.e. off the record) to try and discuss the possibility of leaving under a settlement agreement. Under a settlement agreement, the employee gets compensated for leaving the company and in return promises not to make any claims against the employer in the future. It is essentially a clean break, although the employer does not have to agree to it so it will be subject to negotiation. In any event, there is nothing to lose by raising this possibility with them because you cannot be treated detrimentally for suggesting it and it would not be used against you.
Just to make a final, yet important point, that constructive dismissal can be a difficult claim to win as the burden of proof is entirely on the employee to show the required elements of a claim were present. Therefore, it should only be used as a last resort.
In terms of other legal action, for example based on the disciplinary, if it was genuinely as a result of your discrimination claim, then it could amount to victimisation, which is unlawful. However, any claim for that must be submitted within 3 months of the alleged victimisation so you would have to act fairly quickly if it happened in October 2014.
Hope this clarifies your position? If you could please let me know that would be great, thank you