- IN PERSON FOR THE v - Mr Tony Brown (solicitor) — 2020

Mr Anthony Ackah worked as a Network and Technical Support Analyst from 4 May 2017 to 31 March 2019 and was the only black member of the Network Support Team. He brought claims of direct race discrimination, harassment and victimisation against Peak-Ryzek plc. The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant, Mr Martin Iremonger, Mr Ben Waterworth and Ms Louise Hunt, together with written evidence from other witnesses who did not attend. It held that the claimant had not proved the factual bases of the main complaints and that the respondent's explanations were accepted where they were in issue.

On the holiday complaints, the tribunal accepted the respondent's Teamseer records and found that the claimant had not shown any pre-booked leave was cancelled for 3 to 6 December 2018 or 28 to 31 December 2018. It found that the claimant had either cancelled earlier requests himself or had not obtained approval for the later dates, and that the respondent was entitled to roster him to work. The tribunal also accepted that the disciplinary process over his absence at the end of December 2018 was started because the respondent believed he had taken unauthorised absence. Although the grievance outcome later identified communication failures about annual leave and the disciplinary process was not pursued, the tribunal held that this did not establish race discrimination or harassment.

The pay and restructure allegations also failed. The tribunal found that the claimant was paid a salary very similar to Chris Sharp and higher than Alan Tucker, and that there was no evidence that Mr Sharp received extra salary for extra duties. It accepted that the restructure was genuine: the network role was said to occupy only about 30% of time, the stand-alone role would go, and the team would be cross-trained into a broader role. Mr Tucker, Mr Sharp and the claimant were all offered the new role at their existing salaries. The claimant's later demand for a salary of £45,000 was not accepted, and his employment ended when he declined the offer on 29 March 2019.

The remaining allegations, including exclusion from emails, exclusion from a WhatsApp group, and alleged statements that other staff were gathering evidence against him, were dismissed for lack of evidence or because the tribunal accepted the respondent's explanation. On the 13 February 2019 email about cradle-building, the tribunal accepted Mr Iremonger's evidence that the claimant had said he would not do additional work outside his contracted duties without extra pay, and it accepted the evidence of other employees that this matched their own understanding. Overall, all claims were dismissed and no award was made.