Mrs A A Agbonkhina v Solent NHS Trust — 2018

Mrs A A Agbonkhina claimed that Solent NHS Trust directly discriminated against her because of race when it rescinded a conditional offer of employment for the role of Community Healthcare Support Worker. The tribunal recorded that an earlier disability discrimination claim had already been dismissed in a separate judgment sent on 28 September 2018, and that this hearing was concerned only with the race claim.

The tribunal preferred the evidence of Ms Garratt on the disputed events. It found that she suggested, rather than insisted on, shadowing; that there was no reliable evidence that Mrs Agbonkhina had forbidden the Trust from contacting Southern Health Foundation Trust; and that the comparator would have been treated in the same way. It also rejected the suggestion that Ms Garratt had insisted on an inappropriate route for obtaining a reference from NHS Professionals. The tribunal accepted that the Trust’s policy required satisfactory references before employment could start, and that the references received from NHS Professionals and Thornbury Nursing Services were inadequate, while no reply was received from Southern Health Foundation Trust.

Applying section 136 of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal held that there were no facts from which it could infer that the offer was withdrawn because of Mrs Agbonkhina’s Black African ethnic origin. It noted that there was scope for confusion and misunderstanding about the status of the references, and that a bystander might have considered allowing more time in light of the Trust’s own reference policy, but it accepted Ms Garratt’s evidence that the decision was made because she considered the process had reached a conclusion and satisfactory references had not been received. The race discrimination claim was dismissed.

The Trust’s costs application was dismissed because the tribunal did not find that the claim had no reasonable prospect of success. The tribunal also directed that the £100 deposit paid by Mrs Agbonkhina as a condition of continuing the claim be returned.