Case 2217651/2023 · Employment Tribunal
Mr D A Dotting v Secretary of State for Education — 2024
- Case reference
- 2217651/2023
- Decision date
- 31 October 2024
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Employment Judge
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr D A Dotting
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant brought claims for race discrimination and victimisation concerning the way in which the Teaching Regulation Agency handled his complaints about fellow employees at Fulham Cross Academy Trust. The preliminary issue was whether the Employment Tribunal had jurisdiction, with the claimant relying on section 53 Equality Act 2010 and contending that the TRA was a qualifications body.
The Tribunal accepted evidence that, when investigating referrals about teacher misconduct, the TRA was acting under the Education Acts. It held that section 54(4)(d) Equality Act 2010 excluded the application of section 53 in those circumstances, and that the alleged detriment did not relate to or affect the claimant's own qualification or status as a teacher.
The Tribunal concluded that there was no ambiguity in sections 53 and 54 and that it had no jurisdiction to hear the claims. The claims were dismissed and the listed final hearing was removed from the Tribunal's lists.
Claims and outcomes
2 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race discrimination | The Tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the race discrimination claim because the Teaching Regulation Agency was exercising functions under the Education Acts and was excluded from section 53 Equality Act 2010 by section 54(4)(d). | Dismissed | Race | — |
| Victimisation | The Tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the victimisation claim for the same jurisdictional reason under sections 53 and 54 Equality Act 2010. | Dismissed | — | — |
Legal tests applied
5 references- section 53 Equality Act 2010
- section 54(4)(d) Equality Act 2010
- section 141B Education Act 2002
- Michalak v GMC [2017] UKSC 71
- Ministry of Defence v Rubery UKEAT/2024/165
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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