In Person For the v Ms C Nicolaou, Consultant Solicitor — 2021

The claimant, Mr Richard Powell, brought a single claim of harassment related to race arising from an incident on 16 November 2019 involving a regular customer, Mr PBH. The tribunal recorded that Mr PBH shouted at another member of staff, showed the claimant a video on his phone depicting a black security guard in front of a no entry sign, and that the claimant, who is black, said he felt offended. The respondent investigated the complaint and, after the grievance process, decided there would be no further contact between the claimant and Mr PBH when he attended the depot; Mr PBH apologised and was kept away from the depot for several weeks, but was not permanently banned.

At the preliminary hearing, the tribunal accepted the respondent's submission that it had no jurisdiction to determine a third-party harassment claim. The judge referred to sections 26 and 40 Equality Act 2010 and to the effect of section 65 Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, as considered in Unite the Union v Nailard [2018] EWCA Civ 1203. On that basis, the harassment claim was struck out.

The claimant also suggested during the hearing that the respondent had treated him differently from Mr PBH when dealing with the grievance and that this amounted to direct race discrimination. The tribunal treated that as new factual allegations and a new claim, noted the respondent's objection, and did not determine it at that hearing. Instead, the claimant was ordered to state in writing by 23 March 2021 whether he intended to pursue any further claims, with any respondent response to follow by 13 April 2021.