Oneil Curtis v Star Residential Home Ltd. — 2023

Mr Oneil Curtis applied for the Wellbeing Lead role with Star Residential Home Ltd and was interviewed on 3 November 2022. During the interview the respondent took copies of his identity documents, including his Jamaican passport containing a certificate of entitlement (right of abode). He was then told he was successful, subject to identity verification, right to work and compliance checks, and was asked to upload documents online, including a share code.

The claimant said the respondent's staff treated him less favourably because of race by asking for a share code, repeating that request on 7 November 2022, and by making comments including an alleged reference to him as a foreigner. The tribunal found that Ms Rosiecka did not say the words alleged. It accepted that Mr Curtis genuinely believed those words were said, but on the balance of probabilities they were not. The tribunal also accepted that the respondent's evidence was that other non-British passport holders were asked for share codes.

The tribunal found that the claimant was asked for a share code and that the respondent did not carry out a manual check of his documents, but concluded that the question was why this happened. It found there had been a lack of sufficient training and that nobody thought to check the policy, but that the bad treatment Mr Curtis experienced was due to error and incompetence, and defensiveness about that, rather than less favourable treatment because of his Jamaican nationality.

On the later telephone call with Mr Khoyrutty on 1 December 2022, the tribunal found there was tension and that the claimant had been treated unprofessionally and inconsiderately, but held that this was not discriminatory. The complaint of direct race discrimination was therefore dismissed, and no monetary award was made.