Singh v Cordant Security Ltd
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) were asked in this case to consider whether the failure to investigate a (groundless) grievance would amount to discrimination where the employee had not suffered a detriment. The Claimant was a security guard of Indian ethnic origin. He was accused of smelling of alcohol at work and was sent home whilst an investigation took place. The Claimant alleged that his supervisor, who was white, had used racially abusive language towards him.
The employment tribunal held that the despite finding that the Claimant had made up these allegations in the face of the disciplinary action being taken against him, he had been subjected to less favourable treatment on the grounds of race. This finding was on the grounds that, whilst his manager's allegations were investigated, the Claimant’s were not and his employer was unable to offer an adequate explanation for this. The employment tribunal upheld his claim of race discrimination but made no award of compensation because the Claimant had suffered no injury to feelings as his allegation was untrue.
When the employer appealed the decision, the EAT highlighted that a detriment is an integral element of discrimination and therefore the mere fact that a grievance was bound to fail did not exclude the possibility of there being a detriment. However because the Claimant could have no sense of injustice that a false allegation had not been investigated, it was held that the Claimant could show no detriment.
In Practice
Paul Burton Employment Associate explains, "Employers should be mindful that, while in this case the employer was fortunate that the employee’s allegations were not true, it is always best practice to investigate all grievances raised by employees to prevent any grounds for a successful claim to arise."
Our Employment Team, based in Christchurch, also cover Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. For a free initial chat, please call 01202 499255 and Paul or a member of the team will be happy to discuss any questions that you may have.