Dr Vivienne Lyfar-Cissé First v Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Second Respondent: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Third Respondent: Marianne Griffiths Fourth Respondent: Evelyn Barker — 2019

Dr Vivienne Lyfar-Cissé was employed by BSUH as Associate Director of Transformation from October 2014. In November 2016 a disciplinary outcome found that she had discriminated against Mr W, bullied and victimised Ms B, and failed to comply with a management instruction. In April 2016 the CQC had rated BSUH inadequate overall and criticised its leadership, culture, and equality issues; by 1 April 2017 WSH had taken over management of BSUH, and senior managers then considered whether the Claimant could continue in a senior leadership role with responsibility for race equality.

The tribunal found that Mrs Griffiths' principal reason for dismissing the Claimant on 28 June 2017 was that the findings against her meant it was not objectively credible or acceptable for her to continue to lead on race equality in the Trust. The tribunal held that the dismissal could fall within some other substantial reason under s.98(1)(b) ERA 1996 and, applying the s.98(4) fairness test, concluded that the process adopted was reasonable in the circumstances. It noted that Dr Findlay investigated, the Claimant met him on 16 May 2017, Mrs Griffiths met the Claimant on 14 June 2017, redeployment was considered, and the appeal chaired by Mr Viggers was dismissed on 11 August 2017.

The tribunal rejected the automatic unfair dismissal case under s.103A ERA 1996, finding that protected disclosures did not materially influence the dismissal. It also rejected the victimisation claims under the Equality Act 2010, finding no evidence that the challenged steps were taken because of earlier protected acts or previous race discrimination litigation. The whistleblowing detriment claims were likewise dismissed: the tribunal found no causal link between any alleged protected disclosures and the treatment complained of, and it ended by dismissing all claims.