In person For the v Respondent — 2023

The claimant, a social worker who described herself as black African, presented a grievance on 2 June 2020 alleging race discrimination by Ms Y and related unfair treatment after her brother’s death. The tribunal accepted that the grievance was a protected act for Equality Act purposes. The complaint before the tribunal was whether the respondent failed to deal with or progress that grievance from 2 June 2020 to 24 December 2021 because of race and/or because the claimant had done a protected act.

The tribunal found that the grievance process was very slow and did not comply with the respondent’s own timescales. However, it accepted the evidence of Ms Anyanwu, who was appointed grievance officer on 7 July 2020, that the delay was driven by workload and capacity during the pandemic rather than by the claimant’s race or by retaliation for the grievance. The tribunal found that Ms Anyanwu was overloaded with urgent work, including hostel decants, risk assessments and other time-sensitive duties, and also had health-related absences. It found Ms Mooney gave as much HR support as she could but was not the decision-maker and could not herself conclude the grievance.

The tribunal also considered the claimant’s comparator evidence, including grievances dealt with more quickly by a different manager and another complaint involving Ms Y that was handled through a disciplinary route. It found that the material difference was the availability and capacity of the manager dealing with those matters, and that the comparator material did not support an inference of race discrimination or victimisation. The tribunal acknowledged that leaving the grievance unresolved for 18 months was not right and would have caused the claimant distress, but it did not accept that the delay was explained by race or by the fact that she had lodged a protected act.

Applying section 13, section 27 and section 136 of the Equality Act 2010, and referring to authorities including Bahl, Igen v Wong, Madarassy, Shamoon, Hewage and Efobi, the tribunal held that the claims of direct race discrimination and victimisation failed. The judgment dismisses the claim in full and records no monetary award.