Kachikwuo Amaechi-Onwukanjo v London Underground Limited — 2022

The Claimant was a customer services adviser whose duties included emptying ticket machines. The Respondent investigated two cash shortfalls, £1,400 on 24 July 2019 and £810 on 27 August 2019. The Tribunal accepted that there were clear cash handling procedures, that a discrepancy alert would have required a machine dump and log entry, and that the Claimant had no explanation for the two discrepancies or why the procedure was not followed.

The race discrimination claim concerned an allegation that a human resources partner told the Claimant he should resign, when two non-black comparators had not been told this. The Tribunal found that resignation was discussed but that the HR partner did not tell him to resign. It found no evidence that the comparators had not been told the same thing and no basis for linking the discussion to race, so the race discrimination claim was dismissed.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed by a majority. The majority accepted that there were delays and that the disciplinary decision-maker had treated the policy too automatically, but considered the appeal corrected that issue and that dismissal for two significant unexplained cash shortfalls was within the range of reasonable responses. Tribunal Member Rowe dissented, finding that the delay left the Claimant with little to no chance of remembering the events and made dismissal unfair in the circumstances.