Mr C Edmonds v Roehampton University — 2025

The Claimant brought complaints of direct race discrimination and race-related harassment arising from a recruitment process for a Recruitment Officer role, the composition of the interview panel, subsequent communications, his resignation, and a later complaint about Kieron Bird. The Tribunal allowed a late amendment concerning constructive dismissal as an alleged act of direct race discrimination, but considered the pleaded discrimination and harassment issues on their merits.

The Tribunal found that the Claimant had not proved facts from which it could conclude that the relevant treatment was because of race. It found that several allegations did not shift the burden of proof, and that in some instances the Respondent's explanation would have defeated the allegation in any event. The Tribunal also found no repudiatory breach based on the rejected discrimination and harassment allegations, and therefore no dismissal for the purposes of the direct discrimination complaint.

The unanimous judgment was that the direct race discrimination complaints and the race-related harassment complaints were not well-founded and were dismissed. The Tribunal noted some flaws in the Respondent's actions, particularly around interview panel members making and retaining detailed notes, but found those matters did not mean the Claimant succeeded.