Mrs A Adeniran-Driver v Vocalink Ltd — 2021

Mrs A Adeniran-Driver was found to be a disabled person under section 6 Equality Act 2010, and she described her race as black African. She started work for Vocalink Ltd on 3 June 2019 as a Junior Scrum Master. The tribunal sat under Rule 21 because the respondent did not present a response or attend. Applying Limoine v Sharma and section 136 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal considered the uncontested evidence and the burden of proof in deciding whether the alleged treatment was because of race or disability.

The tribunal dismissed the race discrimination allegations based on the events described in paragraph 5 of the Grounds of Complaint. It also dismissed the disability complaint about the 11 September 2019 remarks that Vocalink was a difficult place to work for an 'outsider' and that the people she worked with were a 'community'. However, it upheld race discrimination in relation to those same remarks, finding that they could refer to the claimant being different from her colleagues and that the respondent had not shown the comments were in no sense because of race. The tribunal also upheld both race and disability discrimination in relation to the same meeting on 11 September 2019 when the claimant was told for the first time that her performance had to improve. The tribunal regarded the timing, one day after disclosure of disability, as suspicious and found the respondent had not displaced the inference that the treatment was because of disability; it also found race could have played a part.

The tribunal upheld disability discrimination in relation to the dismissal on 11 October 2019, finding the dismissal was connected to the disclosure of disability and treating it as part of the continuing act that began on 11 September 2019. It dismissed the race discrimination complaint about the dismissal. The tribunal said the failure to uphold the appeal was not a new and separate act of discrimination, but part of the dismissal. There was no harassment claim, as the claimant's representative confirmed that no such claim was being pursued.

For remedy, the tribunal applied the Vento guidance and the updated bands, with reference to Da'Bell, Simmons v Castle, and De Souza. It awarded £16,000 for injury to feelings, with interest of £1,609.65, and £45,000 for financial loss, with interest of £2,268.50. It reduced the claimed loss from £50,735.58 to £45,000 to reflect possible non-discriminatory reasons for the employment ending before March 2021. The aggregate net award was £64,878.15, which was grossed up to a final award of £71,473.