Mr I Odewale v London Underground Limited — 2023

The claimant, who described himself as black British of African origin, had been demoted from train operator to Customer Services Assistant 2 after a 2017 safety incident. In 2021 he asked to be retrained as a train operator by reference to TOPRA, and the respondent refused. He later raised a complaint under the respondent's bullying and harassment policy, which the respondent declined to consider under that policy.

On the complaint-handling allegation, the tribunal found that the decision-maker treated the complaint as not identifying a bully or harasser. The tribunal said it would have been good practice to speak to the claimant and described the failure to do so as bad management, but found that the same would have happened to anyone of any race and that race played no role in that decision.

On the refusal to arrange training or return to train operator duties, the tribunal considered several comparators. It found Comparator C was a relevant comparator and had been treated more favourably, but accepted the respondent's explanation that the different treatment arose from different pressures on Mr Bill in 2020 and the time he had to consider the matter in 2021. The tribunal concluded that the treatment of the claimant was in no sense whatsoever because of race, and dismissed the direct race discrimination claim.