Ahmed Tayel v The Secretary of State for Justice and 2 others — 2025

The claimant, Ahmed Tayel, a Muslim employee of HM Prison and Youth Offender's Institute Hollesley Bay since 2017, brought claims against the Secretary of State for Justice and two individual respondents (the Governing Governor and the Prison Group Director) arising from a period of continuing employment at the prison. The complaints comprised whistleblowing detriment, detriment for taking time off for family/domestic reasons, direct perceived disability discrimination, indirect religion or belief discrimination, harassment related to perceived disability and to religion/belief, victimisation, and unauthorised deductions from wages including failure to pay the National Minimum Wage. Employment Judge Hutchings sat alone over 14 hearing days in January 2025 with three further deliberation days.

The tribunal found that the management actions complained of were taken for reasons unconnected with any protected act, protected disclosure, religion, or perceived disability. In relation to the suspension, the imposition of day shifts and related decisions, the tribunal found the respondents acted within the claimant's contractual terms and for stated operational and conduct reasons, and that the claimant had not engaged with meetings arranged with him. On the Christmas card allegation, the tribunal found the claimant had not established as a fact that the card was sent by an employee of the first respondent and so the burden of proof did not shift. On wages, the tribunal found the claimant was employed under a 37-hour contract whose hourly rate exceeded the National Minimum Wage and that additional hours had been paid as overtime or taken as TOIL.

All heads of complaint were dismissed as not well-founded. No remedy was awarded. The monetary figures appearing in the source material relate to the claimant's schedule of loss and his own assertions about lost salary, not to any award made by the tribunal.