We successfully defended a claim of race discrimination, harassment and victimisation for a large regional social housing provider at tribunal. The claimant was a black African housing manager. Complaints surfaced about her performance, especially around fire safety compliance, repairs, and recruitment. Another housing manager supported the claimant, but on one occasion said that the claimant had a ‘slave mentality’ because they kept calling her ‘boss’.
Eventually, the claimant was dismissed for poor performance. She claimed to have been targeted over time for complaining about the comment and about the comment itself (which was made five months before the claimant’s dismissal). Even though the comment made was out of time, there was a risk it would be accepted because the comment was blatant.
Practically, we advised it was crucial to establish which factors and evidence might count against accepting this late allegation early. Speaking with witnesses revealed that the claimant’s partner was a volunteer advisor in a law centre. Access to advice is a strong factor in deciding if an allegation should be accepted late. In addition, there was also a documented acceptance of a written apology – this was also key. We also identified meeting minutes where the claimant had raised the comment but had specifically confirmed she was not going to pursue the point further. We were successful at the final hearing in arguing the time limit should not be extended on the strength of the information we had gathered.
