Mr Randy Date v Ministry of Defence — 2019

The Claimant, a black Afro-Caribbean infantry soldier, brought race discrimination claims about his posting in the Training Wing of the MCTC. The Tribunal found him credible, but did not accept Sgt Rashid's evidence that he had heard references to the Claimant being a typical Afro-Caribbean, while accepting that comments about the Claimant being lazy and useless were likely made in the context of views about his absence and performance.

The WhatsApp allegation was dismissed. The Tribunal found the comments about the Claimant were upsetting and inappropriate, and that they implied his long-term absence was not genuine, but concluded they related to his absence and its operational effect rather than to race. The Tribunal found no basis to infer that race played a part in that discussion.

The Right Turn course allegation succeeded. The SJAR stated that the Claimant had instructed on the Right Turn course, although that course had been undertaken by Sgt Rashid, the only other black sergeant in the Training Wing. The Tribunal rejected Flight Lt Taylor's explanation that he personally observed the Claimant and confused the classroom, found that the mistaken information came from Mr Elliott and was not verified, and held that the Respondent had not proved that race or colour played no part in the mistake.

The wider allegation about critical SJAR comments was dismissed. The Tribunal found that the comments were based on actual, if subjective, feedback from those who had encountered or observed the Claimant, and did not find that the assessment was based on stereotypical assumptions about black Caribbean people. Remedy was not determined in this judgment; a further preliminary hearing was listed for remedy case management.