In person For the v Respondent — 2020

Mr Skeete worked as a Security Officer at BBC Broadcasting House. From March 2020 there were repeated exchanges about face coverings, and on 2 June 2020 the respondent changed its policy so that staff could wear a plain, neutral mask if they wished. When the claimant raised a grievance on 30 June 2020, the tribunal found that he was no longer pursuing an ongoing health and safety concern and that the complaint was in substance about Mr Thomas's handling of the issue. It held that he did not genuinely believe the matters in that grievance email were harmful or potentially harmful to health or safety, so the s.100(1)(c) ERA complaint failed.

The dismissal followed the incident on 15 July 2020, when the claimant sought compensation after Mr Baquero checked a carrier bag at his desk. The tribunal preferred the evidence of Ms Cray, Mr Baquero and Mr Thomas, and found that the claimant behaved aggressively and overbearingly during that exchange. It also accepted the grievance findings that the 30 June grievance had been brought maliciously and not in good faith. On that evidence, it found the dismissal was a reasonable response to the conduct and the grievance misuse, and not because the claimant had raised health and safety concerns.

The direct race claim failed because Ms Carr was not a valid comparator: although her bag had also been searched, she asked for an explanation, accepted it and moved on, whereas the claimant demanded compensation and continued the dispute. The tribunal rejected the allegation that Mr Nelson's reference to the claimant as IC3 was racial profiling, finding it was ordinary security-industry terminology. The age claim failed because Mr Thomas's remark that the claimant was a 'young guy' was read as an attempt to see whether youth might explain the behaviour, not as a reason to treat him less favourably because of age. The unlawful deduction from wages claim failed because the claimant was paid full pay throughout the suspension period from 15 July 2020 to 14 August 2020, so there was no shortfall in wages properly payable.