Ms R Tuck, counsel For the v Respondent — 2020

Ms Savannah Chambers brought a victimisation claim arising from her email of 19 December 2018, in which she challenged the handling of her grievance about the 25 October 2018 incident and complained of alleged sex discrimination. The tribunal found that email was a protected act and that Ms Toks Oderinde had knowledge of it before 6 February 2019 because the email chain had been sent to her on 27 December 2018 and 14 January 2019, notwithstanding her evidence that she had not read it.

On 6 February 2019, Ms Oderinde refused to allow the claimant to take part in the Customer Service Manager assessment and told her she was off sick. The tribunal found the claimant had been told she could attend the assessment, that Ms Oderinde had already decided to send her away before the claimant arrived, and that the explanation of a duty of care was not accepted. It also found that the claimant was not happy or relieved to be turned away, and that the manner of the exchange, including comments about union representatives and the claimant being "not direct", amounted to detriments.

The tribunal held that the refusal to allow the assessment and the other complained-of conduct were part and parcel of the same event and that the burden of proof shifted to the respondent, which failed to provide a satisfactory non-discriminatory explanation. The victimisation claim therefore succeeded. On remedy, the claimant sought injury to feelings only; the tribunal placed the case in the lower part of the middle Vento band, awarded PS10,000 for injury to feelings, and added interest to reach a total award of PS10,800. It noted that the claimant was already unwell before 6 February 2019, but found the incident had a profound effect on her and that she did not pursue the CSM assessment afterwards.