Miss A Smithson v British Telecommunications plc — 2022

The claimant, a Contract Assurance Specialist, complained about interactions with Mrs King during and after a Teams meeting about audit actions, the proposed change to her reporting line after the appointment of Mr Cope, and her subsequent resignation. The Tribunal found that some alleged matters were not proved, including that Mrs King said the claimant was not qualified to do her job. It found that Mrs King did question aspects of the claimant's role, dismissed or did not accept the claimant's assertions about the racial impact of her conduct, and said words to the effect that she would not be controlled in how she spoke.

The Tribunal accepted that the claimant was demoted in substance when Mr Cope was introduced above her in the reporting line, because this reduced her standing, direct reporting access, responsibilities and accountabilities. It also found that this amounted to a repudiatory breach, but held that the claimant had not resigned in response to that breach; the resignation was found to have been primarily because of the issues with Mrs King. The constructive dismissal allegation therefore was not made out for the purposes considered in the discrimination and victimisation issues.

For direct discrimination, the Tribunal held that the claimant had not shown less favourable treatment because of race. It found that Mrs King's conduct arose from frustration over the audit process and the claimant's approach, and that the respondent's decision about Mr Cope was related to his relevant experience and the respondent's concerns about the claimant's performance, not race. For harassment, the Tribunal accepted that the conduct was unwanted and that the demotion could reasonably have had a degrading effect, but found that the conduct was not related to race. For victimisation, the Tribunal accepted that the claimant had done protected acts on 21 and 27 September 2021 and that demotion was a detriment, but found no evidence that the demotion was because of those protected acts.