Mr M. Ahmet v London Borough of Tower Hamlets — 2018

The Claimant, who is of Turkish national origin and Muslim, brought claims of direct race and religious discrimination, harassment related to race and religion, victimisation, and unauthorised deduction from wages. The wages claim was withdrawn. The Tribunal extended time for earlier discrimination allegations where necessary, but dismissed the discrimination and victimisation claims on their merits.

The Tribunal found that the January 2018 road incident reported by Mr Galinis had occurred and that the information later provided by Mr Clark was not false. It found that the decision to investigate and to move the Claimant from his substantive post during the investigation was taken because the allegation was regarded as potentially serious and because management wished to avoid contact with witnesses while keeping the Claimant at work rather than suspending him. It found no evidence that those decisions were materially influenced by race or religion.

The Tribunal accepted that aspects of the Respondent's handling of the matter were poor, including delay in resolving the disciplinary process and inadequate support during sickness absence. However, it found that those failings were caused by indecision, confusion about management responsibility, or organisational handling, not by the Claimant's race or religion. It also found that the alleged detriments concerning return to the substantive post did not occur: the Respondent was trying to facilitate his return, while the Claimant made return conditional on the suspension of two colleagues.