Member Mrs F Paton Tribunal Member Ms J Whistler Dr Shawki Abdul Rakib Al-Dubaee v University Of Strathclyde — 2022

The tribunal found that the claimant brought ten allegations of direct race discrimination based on Arab ethnicity, including alleged exclusion from projects and meetings, removal of parts of his remit, criticism in an email copied to colleagues, an allegation of plagiarism, extension of probation, structure chart issues, handling of his complaint and appeal, and non-renewal of his fixed-term contract. It preferred the respondent's evidence on many disputed facts and found the respondent's witnesses honest, credible and reliable, while recording concerns about aspects of the claimant's evidence.

For the project, role and probation allegations, the tribunal found non-racial explanations. The claimant's post was largely funded by the MIDIH project and he was expected to focus principally on that work; other staff had materially different roles or funding arrangements. The tribunal accepted that concerns about technical delivery, attribution of another colleague's work, timekeeping, expenses and working relationships were genuinely held and were not because of race. It also found that structure charts did not show seniority in the way alleged, and that Sam Hume's involvement in a Transport Scotland call reflected his role and experience.

For the grievance and appeal processes, the tribunal found that there were some shortcomings or matters that could have been handled better, including aspects of the probation process and the email copied to colleagues, but those matters did not support an inference of race discrimination or were explained by accepted non-racial reasons. The tribunal found the complaint investigation and appeal to be genuine and reasonably thorough, and concluded that the non-renewal of the claimant's fixed-term contract was due to the end of the relevant funding, with successful redeployment thereafter. All allegations of direct race discrimination were dismissed.