Member A Perriam Tribunal Member R A’Brook Ms R Mallet-Ali v Represented by: Ms L Campbell, Solicitor Perth & Kinross Council — 2023

The claimant, a Home Economics Principal Teacher at Bertha Park High School, alleged that Perth & Kinross Council directly discriminated against her because of race/ethnicity in the way it handled her return to work, grievances, and reports of pupil behaviour. The tribunal accepted that pupils used racially abusive or racially mocking language toward her on a number of occasions in April and May 2021, that those incidents were distressing, and that they affected her health. It also accepted that the school used a restorative approach, that Mr Mills initially advised logging incidents on Seemis before DASH forms were used, and that the grievance outcome later upheld only the complaint that she had not been given adequate information or support around reporting the incidents at an early stage.

The tribunal applied section 13 of the Equality Act 2010 and the burden of proof approach in Royal Mail Group Ltd v Efobi, together with the comparator requirement in section 23. It considered the claimant's complaints as: an alleged demotion to enable her return to work, failure to consider alternatives to returning to Bertha Park, discriminatory handling of her grievance, and inadequate support over the pupil incidents. On the return-to-work issues, the tribunal found that any suggestion of stepping down was only in the context of a phased return, not a permanent demotion, and that the respondent had limited scope to move teachers between schools because there were no vacancies and such moves were generally available only in limited circumstances and usually with medical evidence.

On the remaining complaints, the tribunal found that the claimant had not shown primary facts establishing less favourable treatment by reason of race. It accepted the respondent's evidence that it would have responded in the same way to a hypothetical comparator in materially similar circumstances, including taking a restorative approach, speaking to pupils and parents, and escalating matters to police only as issues developed. The tribunal therefore held that the claimant was not treated less favourably than a real or hypothetical comparator because of race, and it dismissed the claim. As the claim failed, no compensation or other remedy was assessed.