Mr K. Krabou v Tower Hamlets Homes — 2019

The claimant, Mr K. Krabou, alleged harassment related to race and religion, alternative direct race and religious discrimination, and victimisation arising from his treatment by Tower Hamlets Homes managers in the Support Team. The tribunal refused the respondent's late application to rely on the statutory defence and refused late telephone evidence from Mr Abdelwahed, giving his statement little weight.

The tribunal found that the Support Team WhatsApp group contained a culture of casual racism and sexism. It accepted that Mr Jimmy Quane circulated material mocking Muslims and non-white people, including the image of veiled Muslim schoolgirls, a video about Shia Muslims, the phrase PAKI, and other racially offensive messages. It also found that the claimant had sent pornographic material from his account and had lied about some matters, which affected credibility, although the majority still accepted much of his evidence.

On the individual workplace allegations, the tribunal rejected a number of complaints on the facts or as justified by non-discriminatory reasons, including the email reprimand, the alleged shouting incident, some sickness-management correspondence, and the initial decision to investigate the parking issue. It did, however, find that Mr Quane acted in a heavy-handed and disproportionate way in relation to the October 2017 warning, the November 2017 PDR process, the stolen van correspondence, the parking permit investigation, the failure to follow occupational health recommendations, and the personal injury claim.

The majority held that those matters, taken together with the WhatsApp material, amounted to a course of unwanted conduct and that the burden of proof shifted on race and religion. It found that the conduct created a hostile working environment and that the respondent had not shown it was in no sense related to race or religion. Ms Long dissented, considering the conduct to be clumsy management rather than discrimination. The tribunal extended time under s.123 EqA, applying Hendricks and the just-and-equitable factors from Morgan, because the conduct extended over a period and the claimant had pursued an internal grievance.

The harassment claim therefore succeeded in part against Mr Quane only; all other harassment allegations failed. The direct race and religion discrimination claims were dismissed. The victimisation claim succeeded against Mr Coates because his grievance investigation was found to be inadequate and materially influenced by the protected act of the claimant's April 2018 grievance, whereas Ms Long would have treated the failings as incompetence rather than retaliation. No monetary award was fixed in this judgment, and a separate remedy hearing was directed.