Mr L Dilaimi, of Counsel For the v Respondent — 2018

The claimant, Miss A Eason, brought claims of direct race discrimination and harassment related to race arising out of her dismissal from Cuckoo Hall Academies Trust. The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant, AN, FS and MC, and found that the claim turned largely on whether the alleged racist comments said to have been made by FS had in fact been made. It found AN’s evidence unreliable, did not accept that FS made the comments alleged, and accepted the evidence of FS and MC instead.

On the discrimination claim, the tribunal found that the dismissal was made by MC alone and for one reason only: the claimant did not hold the NASENCo qualification required for the SENCo post. It found that MC was aware that the qualification could be obtained within three years but did not consider it acceptable to appoint an unqualified SENCo in the context of a school in special measures, particularly given the criticism of its SEN provision. The tribunal rejected the claimant’s case that the dismissal was racially motivated or that FS and MC acted jointly on the basis of racially tainted information.

On the harassment claim, the tribunal rejected the alleged remark about Eastern Europeans being hard-working migrants and the alleged smirk on dismissal. It found that any comment or facial expression was not related to race at all and therefore did not satisfy the section 26 Equality Act 2010 test. The claimant’s breach of contract claim was withdrawn at the outset and did not proceed.