S Gray and J Gallacher Mr Peter Dobbins v Harhill Ltd — 2022

The claimant, Mr Peter Dobbins, brought claims for unfair dismissal and race discrimination arising from his dismissal by Harhill Ltd from porter work at the Queens Park Hotel and later the Chez Nous guesthouse. The tribunal found that workplace concerns had arisen about his interactions with residents, including his attempts to investigate suspected drug dealing, his going into residents' rooms, and his repeated use of the respondent's telephone to make calls for residents despite being told not to do so.

The tribunal found that Leslie Smith and John Logan both complained to management about the claimant taking too close a personal interest in residents' affairs. It accepted that management decided around the end of April 2021 to dismiss him, before the conversation on 5 May 2021 on which the claimant relied. The tribunal found that the decision-makers were Mr Bizwas, Mr Iqbal Hussain and Mr Adam Hussain, and that Mr Logan was not involved in the dismissal decision.

On the race discrimination claim, the tribunal applied the reverse burden of proof under section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 and referred to Igen Ltd v Wong. It accepted that the claimant was of English heritage, but found no evidence that anyone in the respondent organisation held ill will towards him on that basis. It concluded that there were no facts from which discrimination on grounds of race could be inferred, and that the respondent had shown a non-discriminatory reason for dismissal, namely that the claimant was not suitable for the role and had continued behaviour the respondent considered inappropriate.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed on the threshold ground that the claimant did not have sufficient qualifying service to present such a claim. The tribunal added that, had unfair dismissal been available, it would have had serious concerns about the respondent's failure to follow any procedure, but that did not alter the outcome because the legal qualifying-service requirement was not met.