A paralegal who abandoned her lifelong ambition of becoming a solicitor has been awarded over £100,000 by an employment tribunal after successfully bringing claims of discrimination and unfair dismissal against her former employer.
Ms. F. Kaiser, 48, secured a significant victory last year in her legal battle against Khans Solicitors, an Ilford-based law firm.
The tribunal upheld her claims of disability and sex discrimination, breach of contract, and automatic unfair dismissal. Additionally, the tribunal found that Khans Solicitors failed to provide her with written terms of employment and itemised pay slips, further compounding the firm’s breaches of employment law.
Kaiser joined Khans Solicitors in 2019, with high hopes of qualifying as a solicitor. However, her aspirations were derailed when she encountered difficulties related to her employment. According to employment judge Jones, Kaiser was “honest and upfront” about a personal issue that could potentially impact her admission to the solicitor’s roll. She requested that the firm’s partners delay signing a training contract until the matter was resolved, to which they initially agreed.
Despite this agreement, the firm employed Kaiser as a caseworker at the national minimum wage of £8.21 per hour for a 35-hour work week, but the tribunal found that she was never paid those wages, even though she worked in excess of the required hours.
The tribunal’s judgment highlighted the significant emotional and psychological toll the experience had on Kaiser. “The claimant has had her confidence damaged as a result of the way she was treated by the respondent,” the judgment noted. “In contrast to how she felt when she first began working for the respondent, she does not believe that she will qualify now, although we hope that she will, after sufficient time has passed.”
The right to minimum wage
In addressing the unfair dismissal claim, Judge Jones emphasised that Kaiser was dismissed for asserting her right to be paid the national minimum wage. Despite her advocacy, the tribunal found that she was frequently underpaid or not paid at all.
Kaiser was awarded £25,000 for injury to feelings, with the judge noting that she had “trusted” the firm and was eager to qualify as a solicitor, a goal the firm had promised to support by certifying the quality and breadth of her work. Despite her disabilities and the resulting pain, Kaiser worked diligently, often going above and beyond by working weekends and late nights in the hope of achieving her goal.
However, the tribunal found that the discrimination and subsequent dismissal had a severe impact on Kaiser’s mental health, ultimately leading her to give up her dream of becoming a solicitor.
Khans Solicitors has been ordered to pay the paralegal a total of £105,420.64 in damages and £3,600 in costs.
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
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