Treating employees differently

Case 8: The facts

Mr Meek was dismissed for sending pornographic emails at work. His was not the only case involving this offence; there had been other disciplinary hearings against his colleagues, but these had been carried out by other personnel officers. Meek, a white male, argued that he had been discriminated against on the grounds of his sex and race, because a black female employee in another department accused of the same offence had not been dismissed. The tribunal found that a different manager had disciplined the female colleague along with a number of other colleagues (male and white), and that she had been treated the same as them. Meek's manager was not aware of the outcome of the other cases.

The ruling

The EAT held that the employer was not liable in a discrimination case.The female colleague was not an appropriate comparator because Meek's manager was not aware of the earlier case and therefore could not have discriminated on the grounds of sex or race.

LB Hillingdon v Meek EAT/0422/03