In person For the v Respondent — 2022

The claimant, who is Romanian, worked for DHL Services Limited as an HGV driver from 1 December 2021 until his summary dismissal on 14 October 2022. He originally brought unfair dismissal and race discrimination complaints, but the unfair dismissal claim was withdrawn at a preliminary hearing because he had less than two years' service. The hearing proceeded on 11 issues, all pleaded as direct race discrimination under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010. The tribunal applied the burden of proof approach in s.136 EqA and cited Nagarajan, Madarassy, Igen and Shamoon when assessing whether there were facts from which discrimination could be inferred.

On the factual issues, the tribunal accepted that some of the Respondent's conduct was poor, rude or heavy-handed, but it did not find that this was because the claimant was Romanian. The short-notice change to the claimant's work on 12 September 2022 was inconvenient, but there was no evidence that colleagues of other nationalities were treated differently. The remark made by Mr Gooch on 13 September 2022 about sweeping the yard was found to be crude and unhelpful, but the tribunal concluded it would have been made to any employee in similar circumstances and was not racially motivated. The request that the claimant do a fourth shunt on 14 September 2022 was found to have come from Beth Wakefield, who was trying to accommodate a client request and was inexperienced, rather than from Mr Gooch.

The tribunal found that the claimant was suspended on 15 September 2022 and that the disciplinary process had shortcomings, including the handling of the investigation, the meeting notes and the appeal. It also found that the claimant had given reasonable grounds for suspicion that he had worked through breaks, and that the dismissal decision on 14 October 2022 was taken because Mr Gooch genuinely believed the claimant had committed misconduct and lacked remorse. Although the tribunal said the process was poor and noted that some of the issues might have supported an unfair dismissal claim, it held that there was not the required 'something more' to establish race discrimination. The appeal on 10 November 2022 was criticised as brief and superficial, but the tribunal again found no evidence that the decision not to uphold it was because the claimant was Romanian. The race discrimination claim was dismissed.