Mr M Munyiri v London North Eastern Railway Limited Heard via CVP (London Central) — 2023

Mr Munyiri, a black African claimant, worked for London North Eastern Railway Limited from October 2016. The central incident occurred on 13 December 2020 after he returned late from a break and was asked to complete a 'please explain' form. The tribunal found he had been 19 minutes late, that the discussion escalated, and that he said he had been made to feel like a terrorist; however, it found that Kieran Weir did not actually use the word 'terrorist'.

On the direct race discrimination complaint, the tribunal rejected all four pleaded allegations. It found that the respondent's failure to share information, including CCTV, was how it dealt with these matters generally and that the claimant and his comparator, Kieran Weir, were treated the same in that respect. It accepted there had been an excessive delay in dealing with the grievance, but found no evidence that the delay was because of race, and the grievance outcome not to uphold either side's grievance was described as the natural conclusion on the limited evidence rather than race-based treatment.

The harassment claim also failed. The tribunal found there was no proved 'terrorist' comment and no basis for concluding that any conduct was related to race, noting that the claimant himself had repeatedly said at the time that he did not regard the altercation as race-related. It further recorded that the harassment complaint was out of time, although that point did not need to be decided because the claim failed on the merits. No remedy was awarded, and the respondent's costs application was refused.