Mr Andrew Rumin v University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (“the third respondent” or “R3”) — 2017

The claimant, who is mixed race, brought complaints of direct race discrimination, race-related harassment and whistleblowing detriment. The tribunal dismissed the respondent's strike-out application and found the claimant to be a genuine witness of fact, while expressing concerns about aspects of the respondent's evidence and the absence of key witnesses.

Most direct race discrimination allegations were dismissed. The tribunal upheld the allegation that Richard Edwards, together with others, instigated a covert and then formal investigation into alleged car parking fraud because of race. It found that the claimant had been treated less favourably than a hypothetical non-black comparator would have been, drew adverse inferences from the respondent's evidence and lack of explanation, and held that the respondent had not shown the investigation was untainted by race.

The tribunal found some alleged conduct was race-related harassment in substance, including Susan Buglione's 28 January 2016 comment and gesture and comments about Afro-Caribbean food, but those allegations were substantially out of time and time was not extended. A later comment by CD about drug users was also found well founded in substance, but the respondent was not liable because CD was no longer its employee. The whistleblowing detriment claim was dismissed because the tribunal was not satisfied that the claimant made a qualifying protected disclosure or held an objectively reasonable belief about the matters alleged.