Dr M Czeh-Bhardwaj v The Chancellor Masters & Scholars of University of Oxford — 2025

The claimant, a Clinical Research Fellow at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (WIMM), brought complaints of direct and indirect race discrimination based on her nationality (part Hungarian, part German) and unauthorised deductions from wages. She contended she should have been paid on the E82 NHS consultant scale (starting around £83,000) rather than the E64 scale (up to about £55,000), and that her German Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) had been treated as less than equivalent to NHS consultant training. An application at the start of the hearing to amend the claim to add two further allegations of direct race discrimination relating to maternity pay and contract extension was refused on balance of injustice and hardship grounds. The Tribunal found that the respondent used NHS salary scales to determine pay for Clinical Research Fellows: those with consultant status were placed on E82, those without on E64. The claimant was placed on E64 because she did not hold an honorary NHS consultant contract, not because of the origin of her CCT. The pleaded provision, criterion or practice was found not to be the PCP actually applied; the comparison required by section 23 of the Equality Act 2010 would include British doctors without an NHS consultant contract, who would equally not have been placed on E82, so no particular disadvantage to people of the claimant's nationality was made out. The complaints of direct and indirect discrimination were accordingly not well founded and were dismissed. The unlawful deduction of wages complaint was also dismissed as no evidence was produced to show any deduction had been made from the claimant's wages. The Tribunal added concluding observations noting matters the claimant could reasonably feel aggrieved about, including the respondent's engagement with her about progression to honorary consultant status and the lack of a clear development plan.