Mr I Haq v United Learning Trust and 2 others — 2023

Mr Haq was a geography teacher at Marsden Heights Community College and the tribunal accepted that the school operated a PDR process in which staff were reviewed and coached by senior leaders. In 2021, Helen Butler raised concerns about aspects of his teaching and an informal support plan was proposed. The tribunal did not accept Mr Haq's account that those concerns were wholly spurious, although it accepted that the process was poorly documented and that he strongly objected to being placed into informal support.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was Mr Haq's refusal to engage with the informal support process and the resulting breakdown in relationships, which it treated as some other substantial reason under s.98 ERA 1996. It held that the school acted unreasonably in deciding to dismiss on 6 July 2022 without waiting for the sickness certificate to expire on 11 July 2022, and that a reasonable employer would have delayed the decision and taken steps to facilitate a return to work. The dismissal was therefore unfair, but the tribunal found an 85% chance that Mr Haq would have been dismissed anyway if a fair process had been followed.

The direct race discrimination claim was dismissed. The tribunal rejected the allegations about a new appraiser, the occupational health referral and report, the handling of grievances, the notice for the May 2022 meeting, and the dismissal itself. It found that some allegations did not amount to a detriment, and where a detriment was found there was no sufficient evidence from which to infer that race was an effective cause. The tribunal also held that the named comparators were not shown to be in materially similar circumstances and that the school leadership's approach was explained by its insistence on the informal support process rather than by race.

The harassment claim on grounds of race was also dismissed. The tribunal accepted that the lesson visits, the 26 September 2021 email warning of disciplinary action, and the April 2022 incident in which Mr Haq was asked to leave a departmental meeting were unwanted by him, but it held that none of those matters was related to race. It further held that the conduct did not meet the statutory effect test for harassment.

The victimisation claim succeeded only in part. The tribunal held that Mr Haq's 27 April 2022 grievance was not a protected act, but that the 5 July 2022 email to the respondent stating that racial discrimination and harassment had been referred to ACAS was a protected act. The allegation that his dismissal was victimisation failed because the dismissal decision had already been settled for other reasons. The successful allegation was the reference completed by Miss Littlewood for Harper Green, which the tribunal found was materially worse than he would otherwise have received and was motivated by the discrimination and harassment complaints.