Accessibility Information
Your Rights
The Race & Equality Centre offers a FREE
confidential legal advice and representation service in cases of
discrimination and human rights.
This page contains information about your rights under the law as well
as more about our service.
How can Cheshire, Halton & Warrington Race &
Equality Centre help me?
We employ two full time caseworkers who will give you free,
confidential legal advice and assistance. If we think that your case has
a more than 50% chance of success we will represent you or refer your
case to someone else who can. Please read our
full casework policy
(PDF) for further information about the conditions of assistance.
You can also download our
leaflet
about the service here (PDF) or in
large print here
(PDF)
and our
poster here.
(PDF)
I want to take a claim, what happens next?
The process of making a claim of discrimination takes time.
Employment cases are heard at an employment tribunal and all others by a
county court. There are strict time limits on claiming discrimination -
three months for employment cases and six months for everything else.
Although there are possible extensions to those time times, you should
come and see us as soon as the incident happens.
Please see our section on
taking a discrimination claim for further
information.
When you see the caseworker, bring with you as much information as you
can including all relevant documents, as the caseworker will need to
take copies of these for the file. They will take a statement from you
and advise you of the next steps s/he will take on your behalf.
Generally, in discrimination cases the next stage will be service of a
questionnaire on the individual or organisation you are claiming
against. This questionnaire sets out your claim and asks questions
designed to elicit evidence to support your case. The reply to this will
help us to assess the strength of your claim.
The next stage is to make a claim to the tribunal or county
court. Tribunal applications are free of charge, but for county court
claims in most cases you have to pay a court fee to make a claim (unless
the fee is waived in accordance with the rules on low income).
In employment cases, the tribunal often requests a case management
discussion in order to clarify the issues and make sure everything runs
smoothly on the day of the hearing. The hearing itself can last for more
than one day, depending how complicated your case is, the number of
witnesses, and what facts need to be proved to show discrimination.
How long will all this take?
It really depends on how complicated your case is, factually or
legally. If you have an employment case you may have to exhaust the
grievance procedure first, which takes time. Once an employment tribunal
accepts a case, it usually takes between 3 and 6 months for the case to
be heard.
Also, note that even when a claim is accepted by an employment tribunal
in practical terms very few cases reach the stage of a hearing as the
majority of cases are settled before the hearing or early on before
proceedings are started.
When are you open?
We are open for drop in
office hours of 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm
Monday-Friday, but appointments are available outside of those times.
If you are unable to come into our office to access the casework
service, then our caseworker will arrange an appointment at another
suitable venue. We are also going to start various surgeries across the
area in 2010 – click here for details.
Casework contact: Sharon Willis or Pamela Nsofor
Telephone: 01244 400730
E-mail: sharon@chawrec.org.uk
or pamela@chawrec.org.uk
Age discrimination
It is unlawful for your age to be the cause of less favourable treatment
in your workplace or in vocational training. Find out more about age
discrimination and how and where it may affect you.
Religion and belief
Your religion or belief, or those of somebody else, should not interfere
with your right to be treated fairly at work, at school, in shops or
while accessing public services such as health care and housing.
Learn
more about religious discrimination in this section.
Sexual orientation
Whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or straight should not put you at
a disadvantage. Find out more about discrimination in the workplace,
including harassment, on grounds of sexual orientation in this section.
Disability discrimination
If you have a physical or mental impairment, you have specific rights
that protect you against discrimination. Employers and service providers
are obliged to make adjustments for you.
Find out more, and what to do
if you need help.
Gender equality - sex discrimination
Women and men should not be treated unfairly because of their gender,
because they are married or because they are raising a family.
This
section explains your rights and how to use them.
Race discrimination
Wherever you were born, wherever your parents came from, whatever the
colour of your skin, you have a right to be treated fairly.
This section
explains the rights that protect you against racial discrimination and
prejudice.
Transgender discrimination
Trans people should be able to live with dignity - there are protections
for some of the forms of discrimination that trans people experience.
This section explains more and lets you know where to go for advice and
support.
Human Rights?
You can find more information about
your human rights in the Human rights section.