How to get around potential employers finding tribunal docs

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Over the summer I filed a complaint against my employer for maternity discrimination. The abuse I received at work was horrific. Though my tribunal is in May I believe it will settle beforehand as the employer would likely lose at tribunal as the discrimination is well evidenced. I knew there would be knock-on effects if my name went public, but I thought this would only happen if my case went to tribunal. I was wrong.

Tribunal documents appeared online in September. In October I noticed that multiple scheduled job interviews failed to progress. I was suspicious so I googled myself and found the tribunal documents at the top of search results. I am currently unemployed and desperately need work to support my children as I am the chief earner in my family.

My question: what to do next? I feel so broken by this. The experience at my abusive workplace affected my well-being and now I feel I will be permanently punished for speaking out. It's hard to imagine any of my potential employers (corporate financial services) would not do a background check before hiring.

What, if anything, can I do? Should I tell recruiters about this? Find a way to bring it up with employers before they find it? Say absolutely nothing and hope one slips through without checking?

I have worked in corporate financial services for thirty years and I have never checked for candidates appearing in tribunal hearings. I have never performed or come across anyone else who has performed background checks on candidates beforehand either, I read CVs, possibly LinkedIn. Reference checking is nearly always outsourced and performed after an offer has been accepted.

I think you could be putting two and two together and getting five. In any case, most people are against discrimination and I don’t see why you making a claim would put anybody off anyway.

I have had a tribunal case and the records will be linked to all attendees names. This has happened to me.

I got around this by putting my LinkedIn profile in hibernation mode and removing social medical information. Problem resolved. All witnesses have the information LinkedIn to their name and it shows on google.

I also think that your thinking too much. People don’t check tribunal records when interviewing candidates. The reason why your not getting a role at the moment is because employers are waiting for the budget which is due out on Thursday. You should see improvements soon.