In person For the v Respondent — 2019

Mr Muzi-Mubaso was a Black African Probation Services Officer and PQIP learner who also had dyslexia. The tribunal found that his managers did not know about the dyslexia until June 2019, accepted the contemporaneous documents as generally reliable, and rejected his case that documents had been altered or withheld. It also rejected his evidence that Ms Hillier made the alleged racist comments or jokes.

The tribunal dismissed the race discrimination and victimisation claims. It found that the workbook deadlines, the July/August 2019 OASYS work, the deep dive into his work, the Action Plan, and the suspension of PQIP training were prompted by concerns about workload, organisation, the quality of written work, and the sensitive-data text message, rather than race. It further found that the statements in the Action Plan, the mid-year review, and later correspondence were not false or motivated by the claimant's internal complaints.

Most of the disability reasonable-adjustment allegations were also dismissed. The tribunal accepted that the respondent knew of the dyslexia from 18 June 2019, but held that the workbooks, the 15 July OASYS deadlines, the feedback format, the request for a single assessor, the request for an assessor familiar with dyslexia, the request for more time for assignments, and the referral to the Board and suspension of training were not failures to make reasonable adjustments.

The only successful disability complaint was the requirement on 2 August 2019 that he finish two OASYS reports by 4.30 pm. The tribunal found that, by then, Ms Hillier knew of the dyslexia and that this requirement placed him at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled staff; it would have been reasonable to reallocate one or both reports in advance. That complaint was over four months out of time, but the tribunal extended time as just and equitable because the delay was linked to internal grievance steps and warning of tribunal proceedings, the evidence was largely documentary, and the claim was meritorious. Remedy was adjourned, so no award was quantified.