Ms J Williams v Hertfordshire County Council and 1 other — 2022

Ms Williams applied for a permanent Year 6 post but was offered a temporary role starting on 1 January 2020, and the tribunal found she was doing nursery cover from the start of her employment and was also working in other year groups. On 14 January 2020 she emailed the head teacher reporting that a pupil had called her a monkey. The tribunal accepted that this email was a protected act and found that the incident was recorded and counted as a racist incident, but it did not accept that the subsequent decisions were driven by race.

The tribunal found that by 24 January 2020 the head teacher had received performance concerns from staff, including Ms Burchell and Ms Curran, and that a performance improvement plan was issued at the 24 January meeting and then continued on 10 February. The concerns related to behaviour management, demeanour and attitude with other staff, and interaction with children and observations in Early Years and Key Stage 1. The tribunal held that these meetings were prompted by performance concerns arising during the first weeks of employment, and that the burden of proof did not shift on the race discrimination allegations.

On 13 February 2020 the head teacher dismissed Ms Williams after believing that her performance had not sufficiently improved and after being told of an incident involving children under an art table. The tribunal rejected any suggestion that she was dismissed because of race or because she had made the protected act email on 14 January. It accepted that there were procedural shortcomings, including no advance written notice of the dismissal meeting, no opportunity to be accompanied, and no appeal, but held that those matters were not shown to be because of race or victimisation. All claims were dismissed against both respondents.