Dr Mohamed Saad v University of Nottingham Record of an attended Hearing at the Employment Tribunal Audio Recorded by CVP — 2026

The claimant, Dr Mohamed Saad, applied in July 2021 for a post of Assistant Professor in Physics and Astronomy with the University of Nottingham. He brought claims of direct discrimination on the grounds of race and/or religion under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010, identifying himself as a Black African Muslim of Egyptian national origin. The claims concerned three decisions: not being shortlisted for interview, not being moved from a reserve list onto the shortlist after two candidates withdrew, and not being selected for the post.

The Tribunal, comprising Employment Judge Broughton with members D Newton and H Andrews, upheld the first two complaints, finding that the respondent's decisions not to shortlist the claimant and not to move him from the reserve list onto the shortlist were well founded as direct discrimination on the grounds of race and/or religion. The Tribunal dismissed the third complaint, concerning non-selection for the post itself, finding that the evidence did not support a conclusion on a balance of probabilities that the claimant would have been appointed at interview, particularly given the claimant did not cross-examine on the interview process and there were material differences between the successful candidate's application and others.

The Tribunal noted that its decision on the third complaint should not be read as an endorsement of the respondent's application of its policies or its decision to withhold information from a candidate. A separate remedy hearing will be held to determine compensation in respect of the two successful complaints. The £660,000 figure noted by Layer 1 does not appear as an award in the liability judgment and no monetary award is made in this judgment.