Mrs Nina Ellis (née Sisel) v Connaught Security Ltd — 2021

Mrs Nina Ellis was employed by Connaught Security Ltd as Head of Accounts from 8 May 2018 and was dismissed on 19 August 2019. Her unfair dismissal and harassment claims had already been withdrawn: the unfair dismissal claim because she lacked two years' service, and the harassment claim because it was out of time, although the underlying allegations could still be relied on in support of the race claim.

The tribunal accepted that relationships in the Blackpool office had become strained and that Susan Mitchell-Bradley had joined the business and later fallen out with the claimant. It rejected the claimant's late allegation that Matthew Postlethwaite had mocked her accent, and found that the directors were not told about the alleged Russian remarks. It also found that the claimant and SMB fell out after a dispute about use of the company credit card, but held that this was not shown to have any bearing on the dismissal decision.

The tribunal found that Alan Crowshaw dismissed the claimant because of serious concerns about her performance and the accuracy of the accounts, including overstated income, overstated expenditure, and large discrepancies between the accounts and the actual financial position. It accepted evidence from Crowshaw, Postlethwaite and Philip Jackson that these concerns were known at the time, and it held that SMB did not feature in the decision-making process. Applying section 13 of the Equality Act 2010 and the burden of proof approach discussed in Royal Mail Group Ltd v Efobi and Bahl v The Law Society, the tribunal held that the claimant had not established a prima facie case that race played any part in her dismissal, so the direct race discrimination claim was dismissed.

The only monetary award recorded was by consent on the unpaid wages claim: £176.40.