Mr M A Ali v Heathrow Express Operating Company Limited and 3 others — 2020

The claimant, a Muslim employee, brought race discrimination claims and claims arising from religion or belief in relation to a 4 November 2016 grievance, comments made during a 20 March 2017 investigation, a 22 August 2017 security test, comments said to have been made in April 2018, and the handling of a grievance raised in April 2018. The race discrimination claims were withdrawn at the start of the hearing. The tribunal extended time for the older matters because the claimant did not learn the relevant material until 31 August 2017 after a subject access request.

The tribunal found that the second respondent's 4 November 2016 grievance and the fourth respondent's comments during the later investigation amounted to harassment related to religion or belief. It accepted that both respondents objected to the claimant, a Muslim, wearing a Kara, that their complaints invoked stereotypes about Muslims, and that the second respondent attached inflammatory material about Muslims which he accepted was wrong to submit. The tribunal held that the first respondent was vicariously liable for those acts.

The tribunal rejected the claim arising from the 22 August 2017 security bag test. It accepted the third respondent's evidence that the phrase 'Allahu Akbar' was used as one of a number of indicators to make the package look suspicious, not to target the claimant, and held that in the circumstances the conduct did not satisfy the harassment test. It also rejected the April 2018 grievance-handling complaint, accepting Geitee Janjua's evidence that she sought an informal resolution and, after speaking to Kirsty Sando, treated the matter as closed. The tribunal awarded £2,000 for each of the two successful harassment findings, for a total of £4,000, and made no award for aggravated damages.