Claimant v The Governing Body of The King Alfred Federation
Outcome
Individual claims
The Tribunal found that the claimant was not subjected to less favourable treatment because of race in any of the allegations. Where treatment occurred, the respondent would have acted the same way towards a hypothetical White or Asian teacher. The disciplinary action, management instructions, and restrictions on teaching were all found to be justified by legitimate operational and performance reasons, not related to race.
One allegation succeeded: Ms Rendell regularly since the previous claim until 6 November 2023 rolled her eyes at the claimant, muttered comments, and behaved with hostility. The burden of proof shifted due to Ms Rendell's previous racist comment finding. The respondent failed to prove race played no part. All other harassment allegations failed either on facts or because the conduct was not related to race.
The Tribunal accepted the claimant had performed a protected act by bringing his previous Tribunal claim in July 2019, but found that none of the alleged detriments were because of that protected act. The restrictions on his role and other treatment were due to his failure to follow reasonable management instructions regarding lesson planning, not because he had brought previous proceedings.
Facts
The claimant, a Black African teacher employed since 2015, brought a previous successful race discrimination claim in 2018/2019 against Ms Rendell. He now alleged further race discrimination, harassment, and victimisation stemming from a verbal warning in March 2022, treatment by Ms Rendell, restrictions on his teaching role, and grievance investigations. The respondent argued the treatment was due to the claimant's failure to follow management instructions on lesson planning and legitimate performance concerns. Ms Newton, the Head Teacher who issued the verbal warning, refused to give evidence due to ill health she attributed to the claimant.
Decision
The Tribunal dismissed all claims of direct race discrimination and victimisation. One allegation of harassment succeeded: Ms Rendell's repeated hostile behaviour (eye-rolling, muttering, hostility) from the previous claim until November 2023 was found to be related to race, with the respondent failing to prove race played no part despite her previous racist comment. All other harassment allegations failed. The Tribunal found most of the claimant's treatment was justified by legitimate management concerns about his lesson planning and refusal to follow reasonable instructions.
Practical note
When an employee has previously been found to have made racist comments about a colleague, subsequent hostile behaviour towards that colleague can shift the burden of proof to the employer to demonstrate race played no part, and failure to adequately address ongoing hostility can result in successful harassment claims.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 2302763/2022
- Decision date
- 30 March 2025
- Hearing type
- full merits
- Hearing days
- 5
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Sector
- education
- Represented
- No
- Rep type
- self
Employment details
- Role
- Teacher
- Service
- 10 years
Claimant representation
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister