Mrs S Mackenzie First v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Second Respondent: Mr Raghib Hanif — 2021

Mrs Mackenzie, a senior nurse in A&E at James Cook University Hospital, alleged that Mr Hanif harassed her related to race and/or religion by making and repeating false allegations after the 29 April 2021 changing-room incident. The tribunal heard that the dispute began when she told him to leave the changing room and return to work before the all-clear had been given, and it accepted that he later complained to HR that he had been singled out and treated differently because of his race and religion.

The tribunal found that most of Mr Hanif's statements about the changing-room incident and the later workplace exchanges were not made in bad faith. It accepted that he had spoken to Debbie Appleton, the NMC, John Seed and others because he genuinely believed he had been spoken to firmly and unfairly, and because he perceived that treatment as linked to race or religion. It rejected the suggestion that he had knowingly lied about the core events, and it also found that the allegation that he had spread rumours that Mrs Mackenzie had been suspended was not proved.

The tribunal did, however, find that Mr Hanif told Tony Moore on 6 April 2022 that Mrs Mackenzie had walked into the male changing room while he was praying and had pulled him off his prayer mat by his ear. It found that this account was false and was made knowingly in bad faith. Even so, the tribunal held that the remark was a private conversation not intended for Mrs Mackenzie, that it was not made for the purpose of violating her dignity or creating the proscribed environment, and that it did not in fact have that effect on her in the circumstances. The harassment complaint was therefore dismissed and no remedy was awarded.