Case 2301168/2021 · Employment Tribunal
Mr C Best v Halfords Limited — 2023
- Case reference
- 2301168/2021
- Decision date
- 3 February 2023
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Ferguson Members
- Venue
- London South
- Panel members
- Ms C Wickersham, Ms V Gibbs
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr C Best
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe tribunal unanimously found that Halfords contravened section 39(2)(d) of the Equality Act 2010 by subjecting Mr C Best to a detriment because of race on 11 October 2020, when Mr Pillay accused him of giving him a dirty look and stirring up tension among the group.
It also found harassment related to race under section 40(1)(a) of the Equality Act 2010. The tribunal accepted that Mr Pillay made a racist remark to two other managers and later told Mr Best to change that look on his face and that he did not have to work for him.
The tribunal did not uphold the complaint that Mr Best's dismissal itself constituted harassment related to race or direct race discrimination, and it dismissed the unfair dismissal claim. It awarded the agreed sum of £5,000 as compensation for injury to feelings.
Claims and outcomes
4 findings recordedThis case has mixed outcomes under at least one legal claim type. A tribunal can uphold some allegations and dismiss others under the same legal head, so rows below may represent separate issues or allegation groups from the judgment.
| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race discrimination | Found under section 39(2)(d) Equality Act 2010 for a detriment on 11 October 2020; the injury to feelings award was not split between the successful race claims. | Upheld | Race | — |
| Harassment | Found under section 40(1)(a) Equality Act 2010 for racist remarks to two managers and later remarks to the claimant; the extracted text records a date inconsistency for the period of this conduct. | Upheld | Race | — |
| Race discrimination | Dismissed complaint that the claimant's dismissal itself amounted to harassment related to race or direct race discrimination. | Dismissed | Race | — |
| Unfair dismissal | The unfair dismissal complaint failed and was dismissed. | Dismissed | — | — |
Remedy
Monetary award- Total award
- £5,000
- across all upheld claims
Legal tests applied
2 references- section 39(2)(d) Equality Act 2010
- section 40(1)(a) Equality Act 2010
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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