In person For the v Mrs K Skeaping, solicitor — 2023

Mr Attoh worked as an Audit Assistant Manager in GT's Birmingham commercial audit team from 16 July 2018 on a salary of £38,000. He resigned on 23 April 2020 with three months' notice. The tribunal noted that acts before 22 June 2020 could potentially be out of time, but it still considered the main complaints, which were race discrimination, harassment, victimisation, whistleblowing detriments and dismissal, and constructive unfair dismissal.

The tribunal accepted that GT used a standard performance framework and that Mr Attoh, as an experienced hire, was expected to be proactive about goals and training. It found that the concerns about his performance were genuine, that the feedback themes were consistent across managers, and that Ms Hunter repeatedly tried to support him by setting goals, arranging training, extending the informal PIP and later moving to the formal capability process when performance had not improved. The tribunal accepted there were some process flaws, including missing notes and errors in the Garcia matter, but did not treat those as proof of discrimination or retaliation.

On the race discrimination, harassment and victimisation complaints, the tribunal found that many of the alleged incidents either did not occur as alleged or were not shown to be related to race. It held that the October 2019 contact with Ms Cooper was not a protected act because race was not mentioned, and that the later grievance of 16 July 2020 was the first clear protected act. Even after that point, the tribunal found no causal link between any protected act and the challenged treatment, including the performance plans, the sabbatical refusal, the protected-conversation offer, the formal capability steps and the grievance outcome.

On whistleblowing, the tribunal held that the 13 February 2020 report about password resetting and log-in misuse did not amount to a qualifying protected disclosure under s.43B ERA 1996 because it was not shown to be in the public interest and did not sufficiently show a criminal offence or breach of legal obligation. It also found that GT's handling of the Garcia investigation, the later ethics complaint, and the confidentiality limits on telling Mr Attoh the outcome were not detriments caused by whistleblowing. The tribunal said the ethics complaint was mainly personal rather than public-interest focused, and it rejected the complaint that any dismissal was because of protected disclosures.

The tribunal found that Mr Attoh's resignation on 23 April 2020 was not a response to any repudiatory breach by GT. Applying the constructive dismissal authorities, it concluded that GT had reasonable and proper cause for what it did, had not abandoned the contract, and that the continuing capability process during his notice period was consistent with its policy. The later grievance of 16 July 2020 was not upheld; Mr Rosinke's report nevertheless made internal recommendations about capability and ethnicity monitoring, onboarding for culturally different backgrounds, the perception of a boys' club, and improving feedback quality.