Mr A Kadema v Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation NHS Trust — 2023

Mr A Kadema brought race discrimination, harassment and victimisation complaints against Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation NHS Trust arising from incidents on 10 March 2021, 7 April 2021, 28 April 2021 and 1 September 2021. He is black African and relied on a hypothetical white British comparator. The tribunal held that the complaints about the March and April incidents were presented out of time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010 and declined to extend time on a just and equitable basis.

On the March and April allegations, the tribunal accepted there had been workplace exchanges about patient care and ward procedures, but found no evidence that Nicola Dalton or Lynne Murphy treated the claimant less favourably because of race. It found that any words used by Ms Dalton were likely linked to the claimant challenging her authority over the care plan, and that the alleged airlock conduct by Ms Murphy was, at most, an expression of impatience or an operational issue, not race-related conduct.

The main live issue concerned the 1 September 2021 Linnet Ward incident. The tribunal accepted that Laura Campbell genuinely believed the claimant appeared to be falling asleep during 2/1 observations and that Claire Parker suggested the matter be reported in line with the Trust's procedures. It also accepted that the Trust investigated the report and took no further action. Although the tribunal accepted the claimant had not actually fallen asleep or left his post unauthorised, it found that the report, the restriction and the investigation were not because of race and therefore dismissed the discrimination and harassment complaints.

The victimisation complaint failed as well. The tribunal found that the claimant did receive a written outcome of the investigation, dated 21 October 2021, after requesting one, and that the delay of about 10 working days was reasonable. It found no detriment arising from the timing of the report and no retaliatory treatment linked to the claimant's race discrimination complaint. The claimant estimated lost wages of £567.98 while placed on restriction, but no monetary award was made because all claims were dismissed.