Discriminatory Reference - Both Giver and Recipient of Reference Liable

In Bullimore v Pothecery Witham Weld, the EAT considered the case of a reference given by an ex-employer which unnecessarily mentioned the fact that the claimant had brought a sex discrimination claim against them.

The recipient of the reference then changed the terms they were offering her and ultimately their job offer was rejected by the claimant. She claimed victimisation against both the giver and the recipient of the reference.

In her claim against her ex-employer, the employment tribunal decided that she had been victimised but only awarded her compensation for injury to feelings, arguing that she should claim any compensation for loss of earnings from the recipient of the reference which had itself committed a separate act of victimisation by altering the terms on which it was offering her employment.