Electrician’s race discrimination claim rejected by Employment Tribunal

A north London electrician has lost his Employment Tribunal claim against his employers after he contended that he had been prevented from carrying out some of his duties because of discrimination.

Mr Phil Dominique made his employment tribunal claim after he claimed that staff at Broomfield School, Southgate, had racially discriminated against him by stopping him from carrying out his full responsibilities in his job between February and May of this year. He subsequently made an employment tribunal claim for race discrimination, contending that his duties had been restricted because of his skin colour and/or nationality and/or national origin.

The matter came to the North London Employment Tribunal earlier this month. The Employment Tribunal heard evidence from both Mr Dominique and other staff at the school, with the school defending the claim on the basis that Mr Dominique’s role had been cut back because of concerns that not all his paperwork complied with the requirements of the school’s insurer.

The Employment Tribunal ruled in the school’s favour in the claim, holding that Mr Dominique had not been discriminated against because of his race. An application for costs was then apparently made by the school, with Employment Judge Palmer stating that the application by the school was “not unreasonable” considering the “lack of merit” of Mr Dominique’s claim. Further, Mr Dominique had earlier been ordered to pay a deposit into the employment tribunal to continue with his claims as seven out of the nine original grounds of complaint were dismissed by an Employment Judge has having no prospects of success at an earlier Pre Hearing Review. It is estimated that the school’s cost of defending the Employment Tribunal claim is in the region of £10,000, although it may not recoup all of that amount from Mr Dominique.

Please note that Redmans were not associated in any way with this case