Race as a Protected Characteristic
Race is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. It covers colour, nationality, ethnic origin, and national origin. The protection applies from day one of employment and to workers as well as employees. There is no qualifying period. Compensation is uncapped.
Four types of conduct are unlawful. Direct discrimination: treating someone less favourably because of their race. Indirect discrimination: applying a provision, criterion, or practice that puts people of a particular racial group at a disadvantage without objective justification. Harassment: unwanted conduct related to race that violates dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. Victimisation: treating someone less favourably because they have complained about race discrimination or supported someone else's complaint.
What Race Discrimination Looks Like in Practice
The complete step-by-step guide: The Complete Employment Tribunal Claim Guide. Everything you need to act today, not next week.
Direct race discrimination is often subtle. It rarely presents as an explicit statement. Instead it appears as a pattern: consistently being passed over for promotion despite strong performance, being excluded from client-facing work, being held to a higher standard than white colleagues, receiving harsher disciplinary outcomes for the same conduct, being denied opportunities given to comparable colleagues of a different racial background.
The comparison is central. A race discrimination claim requires showing that a comparator -- a real or hypothetical colleague of a different racial background in otherwise similar circumstances -- was or would have been treated more favourably. The stronger the evidence of differential treatment, the stronger the claim.
Racial Harassment
Racial harassment in the workplace is unlawful regardless of whether the harasser is a manager, a colleague, or a third party such as a customer. From April 2026, employers have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment -- including by third parties. An employer who fails to act on a complaint of racial harassment, or who dismisses the complaint without genuine investigation, faces liability for that failure in addition to liability for the harassment itself.
A single serious incident can constitute harassment. A pattern of less serious incidents, when considered together, can also constitute harassment. Document every incident: date, what was said or done, who was present, and any witnesses. Report each incident in writing to HR so there is a paper trail of the employer's response -- or failure to respond.
Dismissal Connected to Race
If you have been dismissed and you believe race was a factor, the burden of proof framework in discrimination cases works in your favour. Once you establish facts from which a tribunal could conclude that discrimination has occurred, the burden shifts to the employer to prove that race was not the reason. An employer who cannot provide a credible, race-neutral explanation for the dismissal faces an adverse finding.
Request a subject access request under the UK GDPR immediately. You are entitled to all personal data your employer holds about you, including emails, notes of meetings, and HR records. These documents frequently reveal the real reasoning behind decisions. Employers are required to respond within one month.
Time Limit and Next Steps
Contact ACAS at acas.org.uk within three months less one day of the act of discrimination. If the discrimination was ongoing, time runs from the last act. Start early conciliation today -- it pauses the limitation clock. Gather your evidence: comparator evidence, performance records, communications, notes of meetings, and any witnesses. The stronger your contemporaneous record, the stronger your claim.