Mrs M Jeng-Kanu v The London Borough of Haringey — 2020

The claimant, a Health and Safety Officer employed by the respondent, brought claims of direct race discrimination, direct sex discrimination and harassment arising from management actions by her line manager, including comments about checking post, discussions about workload and job title, contact during sickness absence, the advertising of Health and Safety Adviser roles, and the failure to shortlist her for one of those roles. The tribunal found that allegations predating 13 August 2018 formed part of conduct extending over a period, so it had jurisdiction to consider all pleaded factual allegations.

On the disputed facts, the tribunal generally preferred the evidence of the claimant's line manager, finding his evidence consistent and accepting his explanations for the actions complained of. It found that the claimant had been performing the Health and Safety Officer role from January 2017, that the line manager's actions about workload, post, job title, sickness contact and recruitment were connected to management of her role, and that she was not shortlisted for the adviser role because she did not meet the qualification requirements.

The tribunal concluded that there was no evidence linking the respondent's actions to the claimant's race or sex, and that the burden of proof did not shift under section 136 of the Equality Act 2010. For the harassment allegations, it accepted that the claimant may have been upset by some conduct, but found the conduct was not related to race or sex, did not have that purpose, and it was not reasonable for it to have the prohibited effect. The discrimination and harassment claims were dismissed.