Mr A Ali v Notting Hill Genesis — 2020

Mr Ali brought complaints of whistleblowing detriment, automatically unfair dismissal, race discrimination, disability discrimination, unlawful deductions from wages and breach of contract. He withdrew the whistleblowing and automatically unfair dismissal complaints at the hearing. The tribunal dismissed the race discrimination, disability discrimination and breach of contract complaints, and the unlawful deductions claim succeeded only in part in relation to the October 2018 salary item of £185.15.

On disability, the tribunal found that Mr Ali was disabled in September 2018 by reason of depression, but not by severe anxiety or autism. It accepted that the condition affected his sleep and that insomnia had a substantial adverse long-term impact, but it found that the respondent did not have actual or constructive knowledge that he had that disability at any relevant time. For that reason, the direct disability discrimination, indirect disability discrimination and reasonable adjustments complaints all failed.

The race discrimination complaint also failed. The tribunal found that Ms Emmanuel’s concerns about timekeeping at the 16 May probation meeting were genuine performance issues and not a detriment, and that Mr Gordon was not in materially the same position because he had a different manager. It found that the 11 June email about not "talking at" the ISOs was Ms Emmanuel’s own reasonable instruction, not a direction from Mr Gordon, and that later criticism on 5 September and the handling of the 9 October meeting had cogent non-discriminatory explanations.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Ali had taken on more complex work than his role required, but it found that the respondent did not expect him to work beyond his contracted hours or to take on work outside his FIO role. It found that Mr Ali agreed on 2 October 2018 to coach Mr Gordon as part of an informal mediation process, later confirmed that agreement in email, and then resigned conditionally on 8 October 2018. The managers’ responses did not state that the situation was irreremediable, and the tribunal found no fundamental breach of trust and confidence and therefore no constructive dismissal.

On pay, the tribunal found that Mr Ali had been paid his full September 2018 salary, so the 27 to 30 September arrears claim failed. The August 2018 holiday pay sub-claim was struck out because he could not specify the days worked or the basis of the claim. The tribunal also found that the termination holiday calculation was correct on his contractual 26-day entitlement. The only monetary award was £185.15 for the conceded October 2018 salary underpayment, payable within 28 days unless already paid.