Less favourable treatment

Case 3: The facts

Black employee Kelvin Warner was suspended and then dismissed following allegations by colleagues. A tribunal found that he had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on racial grounds.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the tribunal's decision that Warner had been treated less favourably than a white employee who had been investigated for a more serious offence. His dismissal was unfair because no reasonable employer would have found him guilty of misconduct, the employer had failed to carry out a fair investigation, and dismissal would not have been a fair sanction even if the allegations had been true.

The EAT also rejected an argument that a delay in the tribunal's decision had made it unsound.

Wandsworth BC v Warner UKEAT/0671/04