Liability of individual discriminators

Claims for discrimination can be brought against individuals, such as line managers or members of a recruitment panel, as well as the employer.

Even if the employer has a statutory defence because it took “all reasonable steps” to prevent the discriminatory act, individual employees can remain liable (section 110(2), EA 10, Barlow v Stone [2012] UKEAT/0049/12/MAA). See also Chapter 18: Compensation.

An employee will not be personally liable if they reasonably relied on a statement made by the employer that doing the act was not a contravention of the EA 10 (section 110(3), EA 10).