Dr Shifeng Wang v University of Portsmouth and 1 other — 2025

Dr Wang brought race discrimination complaints against the University of Portsmouth and Dr Shanker Prabhu, later amended to include victimisation, together with breach of contract and unlawful deduction claims. The tribunal heard evidence about promotion guidance, relocation expenses, APEX project time, teaching-module allocation, workload, support for Dr Roy's duties, the 31 May 2023 team meeting, a probation letter dated 2 June 2023, and the later end of employment on 3 August 2023.

The tribunal dismissed the race harassment and direct race discrimination claims. It accepted the respondent witnesses' explanations on the individual incidents and found the Claimant had not proved the underlying facts as alleged, or that race played any part in them. In particular, it rejected the suggestion that the promotion advice, relocation-form process, APEX timing, module allocation communications, or the emails about covering Dr Roy's work amounted to treatment because of race.

The victimisation amendment was permitted, but the claim failed. The tribunal held that what Dr Wang said at the 31 May 2023 meeting did not amount to a protected act because it did not expressly or impliedly allege race discrimination. Even if it had, the tribunal found the 2 June 2023 probation letter was motivated by Dr Alkadhimi's concerns about the Claimant's performance, his refusal to assist with Dr Roy's work, and his communications with colleagues, rather than by the Claimant referring to discrimination.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was dismissed. The tribunal found that once employment ended on 3 August 2023 there was no further pay due apart from accrued holiday, and that holiday had been paid. It also held that the Respondent had not proven any fundamental breach by the Claimant.

The breach of contract case was dismissed except for the notice-pay element. The tribunal found that the Respondent had ended employment before the agreed leaving date of 31 August 2023, but had not shown that Dr Wang was in fundamental breach so as to justify ending pay immediately. The tribunal said the successful element appeared to be notice pay for 4 August 2023 to 16 August 2023, but the amount was not determined in this judgment and was left for a later remedy hearing.