Mr Kingsley Okeke v Ranc Care Home Limited — 2023

Mr Okeke was employed as a staff nurse from 11 March 2020 and was summarily dismissed on 16 November 2020 after an incident in the early hours of 18 August 2020 involving resident A and HCA Fanica Dragustin. The tribunal found that he had been asked to assist, that he arrived after the injury occurred, and that he completed the incident report and a handover diary entry. It also found that the body map later produced at the hearing was not satisfied to be the contemporaneous document completed on the day.

The tribunal upheld the harassment claim related to race arising from Charlie Lebatt's investigation report. It found that the report went beyond fair criticism and included conclusions that the claimant had been dishonest or untruthful without adequately grappling with the evidence, including Fanica Dragustin's inconsistent account and the marked difference in how she was treated. The tribunal held that the conduct created a humiliating environment and related to race. It said that the same conduct could not also found a separate direct discrimination finding because of section 212 of the Equality Act 2010, although it indicated that it would otherwise have upheld that aspect too.

Other Equality Act complaints were dismissed. The tribunal rejected the allegations about the investigation process itself, the unpaid suspension while he sought a postponement, the email referring to the NMC and DBS after he indicated he might resign, the grievance-meeting comment that he was 'raising his voice', and the handling of his grievances and appeal by Pauline Manning and Mark McDonald. It found that those matters were not proved to have been because of race and, in the case of the grievance handling, that the investigations were flawed but not racially motivated. The tribunal also rejected victimisation because, although the grievances were protected acts, the later decisions were not made because of them.

On the dismissal itself, the tribunal upheld direct race discrimination and harassment related to race. It found that the claimant had given an honest account of the incident, that his documentation was imperfect but not dishonest, and that summary dismissal was not justified because the errors did not amount to gross misconduct. It relied on the disparity between the treatment of Mr Okeke and Fanica Dragustin, the lack of any disciplinary action against her, and Torie Pollard's evidence about the claimant's voice and stature as matters capable of supporting an inference of race. The wrongful dismissal claim also succeeded because the contract did not justify summary dismissal on the facts found.