Ms F Habib v Dave Whelan Sports Limited T/a DW Fitness First — 2020

The tribunal heard two linked cases and, in a reserved judgment dated 19 October 2020 after hearings in March 2020, dismissed the claimant's remaining complaints in both. It recorded that race discrimination and equal pay had been withdrawn, and that complaints arising before 18 November 2014, together with the March 2015 religion complaint concerning Claire Woolley, were out of time and not extended.

On the first claim, the tribunal rejected the claimant's evidence about unwanted hugging, hand contact, comments about makeup, age, shouting and exclusion. It found that the respondent's explanations were tied to the claimant's role and the gym's business arrangements: training was limited to staff who managed Fitness First employees, meetings were restricted to heads of department, and timetable changes were made to vary the classes offered.

The tribunal also accepted the respondent's evidence on pay, budgets and redundancy. It found that the claimant had not directly asked for a pay rise, that other pay changes reflected role changes, that the studio-rental target rose because the claimant had generated £1,200 per month from Eduardo against an original target of £100, and that the redundancy proposal was made for restructuring reasons and was said to save £6,000 per annum. It held that the claimant had not established facts from which age, sex or religion/belief discrimination could be inferred.

The victimisation allegations also failed. The tribunal found that the grievance process, redundancy consultation, appeal correspondence and later investigations were driven by workplace issues and the need to deal with the claimant's refusal to cooperate, not by the protected acts or by the ET claims. No monetary award was made.