Mr M Sillah v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2022

The Claimant, a black African prison officer, complained that colleagues unreasonably questioned his decision to remove a prisoner from a wing cleaner role on 17 August 2020. The Tribunal found that colleagues discussed the decision and suggested reflection because of matters including the imminent inspection, the prisoner's work record, and the practice of discussing prisoner dismissals. It found the Claimant was not told, expressly or by implication, that he could not dismiss the prisoner, and that nothing unreasonable occurred.

The Tribunal found the initial grievance investigation by Ms Edwards was inadequate and that Ms Slattery's later investigation was flawed because she did not initially interview officers who were present in the office. It also found the CCTV criticism was not fair or reasonable, and that the missing witness evidence was later obtained after Mr Denman agreed further steps on 1 March 2021. Taking the investigation as a whole, the Tribunal found it was flawed but not inappropriate, and that the flaws had been corrected by its conclusion.

The Tribunal extended time for the direct race discrimination complaint about the August 2020 questioning because it was just and equitable to do so. It dismissed the direct race discrimination and victimisation claims because the alleged unreasonable questioning and inappropriate investigation were not proved, and in any event there was no evidence from which it could infer a connection with race or the protected act. The constructive unfair dismissal claim was dismissed because the Tribunal found no breach of contract, let alone a fundamental breach, and found the Respondent had not acted in a way calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage trust and confidence.