Leicester social worker wins race discrimination case

The woman was investigated after complaints were made in January 2021

A social worker who said she was discriminated against at work because of her race has won her case against Leicester City Council.

The woman, who is a British national of Indian origin, was made the subject of a disciplinary investigation in January 2021 after complaints against her.

An employment tribunal panel found her treatment had "no other credible explanation".

The council said it will appeal against the decision.

According to a report into the case, the woman was accused of not acting in line with leadership standards and failing to ensure members of her team acted in line with agreed standards, which "created an environment detrimental to individuals and to the delivery of core functions".

In April 2021 she asked one of her bosses what failings she was said to have made, but received "no substantive reply" to her question, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

At a second meeting the following month she was told there was no case to answer, and she submitted her claim to the tribunal service the same day.

'Race played a part'

The tribunal panel found there was "nothing of substance to start a disciplinary investigation", adding the senior manager would have been aware as "an investigation did not set out any identifiable acts of misconduct".

The tribunal panel said the only other head of service made the subject of a formal investigation was also of Asian origin, and also listed other incidents within the department dealt with informally despite being equally or more serious than the allegations against the woman.

These included an accusation by one staff member that they had been deliberately "humiliated and denigrated" in a department training session, for which mediation was offered.

A different staff member had been overheard swearing, described in the report as "undoubtedly inappropriate conduct", and had sent an email "which caused such consternation that it led to a collective grievance" but no investigation was launched.

In its report, the panel said: "We conclude on the evidence that when it came to assessing the merits of behaviour allegations against white employees, [the senior member of staff] was slow to move to formal measures," its report said.

"In the case of [the woman], she moved fairly speedily to investigation and suspension for something which was either at the same or lower level of alleged misconduct.

"We are satisfied that race played a part in her decisions. There is no other credible explanation."

A city council spokesperson said: "We are disappointed with this verdict and will be appealing against it.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage."