In employment law, injury-to-feelings awards are often critical to the damages awarded. They do a good job of getting into the nitty-gritty of eliminating discrimination on race, sex, and disability. These grants are intended to reward the emotional anguish that awardees have experienced. They relieve the burden of psychological trauma brought about by the effects of discrimination. The legal framework for these awards uncovers large gaps in compensation depending on the type of discrimination faced. Many other factors are equally important in deciding how big the award will be.
Injury-to-feelings awards hinge on a few important factors. These factors denote the kind of discrimination and its effect on the victim’s quality of life. When unchecked, discriminatory behavior can become ingrained and inflict lasting damage. This could mean forfeiting a rewarding public service career, developing mental health effects such as depression, and damaging home life—all of which can increase monetary damages. When victims suffer permanent psychological harm, the verdicts become much larger. Similarly, more significant lifestyle changes tend to come with higher compensation payments.
Anna Barlow is a committed legal advocate who represents people who earn £12,000 per year or less. She usually looks for an injury-to-feelings award of £3,000 or so for her clients. This picture underscores a widespread misconception about the burden placed on people who experience discrimination. Most of these people don’t have the financial means to fight multi-year lawsuits.
Statistical analysis further shows that the average injury-to-feelings award per case is inflated due to a relatively low number of awards in non-race discrimination cases. So, for example, the average award to victims of racial discrimination is £7,216. By comparison, those who suffer from disability discrimination only receive an average of £5,802, and sex discrimination victims receive an average of £3,737. These figures show that racial discrimination claims consistently receive the largest settlements or payouts of any discrimination type.
The median sums awarded paint an even clearer picture in support of these trends. In race discrimination cases the median compensation awarded for injury to feelings is £3,000. By contrast, disability cases result in a median award of £2,500. Sex discrimination claims yield a median award of £2,000. These median figures don’t mean larger awards aren’t achievable. In reality, many victims are still awarded much lower sums that merely acknowledge their emotional pain and suffering.
High-profile examples help to paint the picture that large-dollar jury awards in discrimination cases are possible. So it was police Sergeant Gurpal Virdi who, after a racial discrimination hearing, was awarded £100,000 in damages for his damaged feelings. This is the largest emotional distress damage award ever awarded in such cases. Likewise, probationary constable Angela Vento was granted £30,000 after suffering from bullying and clinical depression at work. Just a year later, in a separate case with the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, Rosemary Lee was awarded £25,000 for her ‘hurt feelings’.
Past evidence can help illuminate the fiscal impact of awards related to discrimination. In 2000, courts awarded a remarkable £3.53 million in compensation for unlawful discrimination cases alone. Of that total, £1.5 million was awarded specifically for hurt feelings. This is a shocking example of the extreme financial burden these types of cases can impose on individuals and cultural institutions.
Intriguingly, awards for injury to feelings only go 44% of the way towards compensatory damages awarded on average in discrimination cases. As this statistic demonstrates, the emotional and psychological toll of discrimination should be taken into account when considering workplace discrimination in the legal arena. An individual case will look very different. For example, one woman who was banned from wearing trousers was awarded £4,000 for injury to feelings, demonstrating that what may appear to be minor occurrences can inflict serious emotional harm.