Mr J Januszewski v Ultima Furniture Systems Ltd — 2020

The tribunal found that the claimant and Karl O'Brien argued on 13 June 2019 over an electric pallet truck. It accepted that the claimant behaved inappropriately on the shop floor, and that Mrs Rhodes and Mrs Pennington had cause to ask him to the canteen. The meeting in the canteen involved management discussing options, with Piotr Tymosiak assisting as translator, and the tribunal accepted that the claimant had limited English and that the exchange was prone to misunderstanding.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's evidence that Mr Thompson said the respondent needed "to say goodbye" and that Mrs Pennington said "sorry George". It found instead that the words used were that he should go home or go to Sherburn for the rest of the day. On the tribunal's findings, continued employment at South Kirkby was not presented as an option, but the respondent did not intend to dismiss him. The claimant was found to have left the premises, put his boots in the bin, and not returned, so the tribunal held that he resigned and had not been dismissed.

For that reason the unfair dismissal complaint failed, and the direct race discrimination complaint failed because it was based on an alleged dismissal that the tribunal found did not happen. The harassment complaint also failed overall. The tribunal found that Mrs Rhodes' raised voice was to make herself heard over factory noise and that her conduct was not related to Polish nationality. It found that Mr Thompson's instruction to go home or work at Sherburn, and his escorting the claimant from the building, were unwanted and humiliating but were responses to the incident and not race-related.

The tribunal noted that the respondent did not investigate the claimant's race complaint, had no equal opportunities training, and had only limited engagement with its equal opportunities policy. It also commented on ill-judged Facebook posts by Mr Ellis, but held that there was no structural or institutional discriminatory regime against foreign workers. The holiday pay claim was withdrawn after the respondent paid the outstanding £105.