Mr P Bakoukissa v Jaguar Land Rover Limited — 2022

The tribunal dismissed the direct race discrimination claim for lack of jurisdiction. The alleged acts concerned unsuccessful promotion applications and related matters between October 2017 and July 2019, but the claim was not presented until 30 April 2020. The tribunal found no basis to extend time on just and equitable grounds and added that the claim would have failed on the merits because the claimant had not proved facts from which race discrimination could be inferred.

The victimisation claim failed because the tribunal found the email to Paul Blackman on 30 September 2019 was not a protected act. It made no reference to discrimination or to the Equality Act. The tribunal also found that the claimant was investigated because of his conduct on 8 October 2019, that later mailing-list omissions were inadvertent, and that other alleged detriments were not caused by any protected act.

The harassment allegation concerning a conversation with Mr Lee on 25 February 2020 was not accepted. The tribunal preferred evidence that Mr Lee had referred to his own experience of discrimination as an Asian person while trying to reassure the claimant that there was no discriminatory agenda against him, and that the claimant had misunderstood the comment.

The constructive dismissal claim failed because the tribunal found the respondent had not breached the implied term of trust and confidence. It found the disciplinary process arose from evidence about the claimant's conduct on 8 October 2019, the reinstatement after appeal was not procured by duress or false pretence, the later police-related investigation was a reasonable due diligence exercise, and the alleged final straw was an innocuous misunderstanding. The tribunal also found that the claimant had affirmed the contract by accepting reinstatement and had resigned to pursue the tribunal claim he had already planned.