Claimant v On-Site (London) Ltd (in voluntary liquidation) and Target Site Services Ltd — 2021

Mr H Ghounim worked on and off for around five years for the second respondent via the first respondent, and his final assignment was as a pipefitter in a tunnel at Heathrow Terminal 3 under Mr Nicholls. The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant, Mr Nicholls and Mr Appleby. During the hearing the claimant withdrew all claims against the first respondent, and the separate complaint framed as direct religious discrimination (or harassment) about the grievance investigation was withdrawn.

On the decision to end the assignment on 20 June 2019, the tribunal accepted Mr Appleby's evidence that he alone decided to give notice because a directly employed pipefitter with better specialist skills had become available after a cancelled Gatwick contract, and there was no other work to which the claimant could be reassigned. It rejected the inference that Mr Nicholls had influenced that decision or that the explanation was a pretext for victimisation or race discrimination. The tribunal noted that the claimant had no evidence to contradict the second respondent's case and had identified only a hypothetical comparator.

On the grievance investigation, the tribunal accepted that Mr Appleby dealt with the main points raised, asked Mr Nicholls and the contract manager to respond, and decided there was little to be gained from carrying out further investigations into matters such as whether Marian should have been interviewed or whether Mr Nicholls was in the tunnel on 14 June 2019. It found no evidence that that decision was linked to the claimant's protected acts or race, and it noted that Mr Appleby had previously resolved an earlier complaint to the claimant's satisfaction. The remaining claims were dismissed.