Claimant v Home Office — 2022

The claimant, who identified as Asian British of Bangladeshi origin, was dismissed for gross misconduct following complaints about unsolicited social media contact and related conduct towards two younger female colleagues, AB and IJ, and a message about another colleague's daughter. The Tribunal found that the respondent's decision makers genuinely considered the conduct to be serious, unwanted and in breach of relevant policies, and that the investigation and disciplinary process were within the range of reasonable responses.

On direct race discrimination, the Tribunal held that the claimant's proposed comparator, DW, was not in materially comparable circumstances. It found material differences including the number of complainants, the nature and duration of the conduct complained of, the complainants' wish for formal action, and the safety concerns raised in the claimant's case. The Tribunal concluded that the decision to investigate, suspend and dismiss was not consciously or unconsciously motivated by race.

On unfair dismissal, the Tribunal held that the claimant's HMRC and HMPO employments were separate and distinct concurrent contracts, and that the periods could not be treated as a single period of continuous employment for the HMPO dismissal. The claim therefore failed for lack of qualifying service. In the alternative, the Tribunal found that the respondent had a potentially fair conduct reason, reasonable grounds for its belief, a reasonable investigation, and that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses; any procedural concerns were not sufficient to make the dismissal unfair and the grievance issue was cured on appeal.