A Qualitative Study of Judgments in Race Discrimination Employment Cases

Abstract

Qualitative methods were used with the aim of identifying any persistent patterns in the written judgments of British employment tribunal cases involving claims of race discrimination that might explain why these claims are relatively unlikely to succeed. The main factors at work appeared to be credibility of the parties and whether the claimant had enough evidence to pass the burden of proof to the respondent. A relatively recent legislative amendment relating to burden of proof appears to be very significant, while other factors highlighted in the literature appear to be less so.