Dr A O Agyeman v Avicenna Retail Limited — 2025

The tribunal, sitting as Employment Judge Woodhead with Mrs D England and Mr C Williams, considered complaints of unfair dismissal and direct race discrimination brought by the claimant, a Pharmacy Manager employed by the respondent between 1 April 2004 and 30 October 2023. The parties had agreed that the dismissal itself was not alleged to be an act of direct race discrimination. The race discrimination complaints concerned the removal of a lunchtime pay supplement and restrictions on the claimant's activities during the lunch period; the tribunal found those complaints not well-founded and dismissed them.

On unfair dismissal, the respondent relied on conduct as a potentially fair reason under s.98(2) ERA 1996, with allegations including risk to patient safety, bullying of colleagues, and gross insubordination relating to non-work activities during working hours. The tribunal concluded that the dismissal was unfair. It also found that the claimant caused or contributed to the dismissal by blameworthy conduct and that it was just and equitable to reduce both the basic award and the compensatory award by 25% to reflect the claimant's conduct before dismissal.

The judgment text supplied is truncated and does not set out a final monetary remedy calculation; the quantum of any award is therefore not recorded in this extraction.