Mr O Dufeal v LSDM Limited RECORD OF A HEARING — 2025

Mr O Dufeal, who described his race as Black British, joined LSDM Limited as a customer service adviser on 6 December 2021, was promoted to team leader in June 2022, and later became deputy store manager designate in February 2023. He brought direct race discrimination and race harassment complaints about pay, an August 2022 health and safety incident, promotion decisions, driving duties, alleged comments about dismissal within two years, training, weekend working and the handling of his grievance and appeal. The tribunal directed itself to the Equality Act provisions on direct discrimination and harassment, and to the burden of proof authorities it cited.

On the August 2022 angle-grinding incident, the tribunal found that the basement work had been zoned off, that the claimant knew the works were happening, and that Ms McNamara investigated and decided there was no unsafe working environment. It found no facts showing that race affected the response, no basis for saying a white employee would have been treated differently, and no reason to treat the absence of an apology as racially motivated. The related pay and driving allegations also failed: the claimant was paid at the correct shopfloor rate for his role, the dedicated delivery drivers were not appropriate comparators, and the driving duties were offered generally and were accepted voluntarily.

The tribunal rejected the allegation that Mr Sharp said employees with under two years' service could be easily dismissed. It also rejected the claim that Mr Sharp pressured the claimant to work weekends or to sign documents falsely confirming training. On the NAP folder, the tribunal found that the copy in the bundle was not the only version and that a more complete version likely existed; it accepted detailed evidence that the claimant received training from Mr Sharp and other managers on sales, stock, accounts, scheduling, HR processes, health and safety and related topics. It therefore found no race-related denial of training.

The September 2022 promotion complaint failed because Ms McNamara did not shortlist the claimant for the substantive West London Deputy Store Manager role due to his lack of retail and managerial experience, while Ricky Jenkins had more relevant experience. The June 2023 sign-off complaint also failed because the tribunal accepted the interview notes as broadly accurate and found that the claimant's sparse answers, not race, explained the decision not to sign him off immediately; Mr Edgar and Mr Sharp were both looking to promote him if possible and offered a six-week further review. All of the race harassment allegations were dismissed for the same reasons, and the grievance and appeal were not upheld.