Strathclyde Regional Council v. Zafar

LORD BROWNE-WILKINSON

My Lords,

    The appellant is a United Kingdom citizen of Asian origin. He was employed for some ten years by the Strathclyde Regional Council ("the local authority") as a social worker. He was dismissed on 10 March 1989, the reason for his dismissal being given as sexual harassment of clients of the Social Welfare Department of the local authority and of fellow employees.

    The appellant brought, in all, six sets of proceedings in the Industrial Tribunal, some before and some after his dismissal. In very general terms, those proceedings alleged that, prior to his dismissal, the local authority had discriminated against him and victimised him on racial grounds in not appointing him to certain posts, that there was a long term conspiracy against him, that his dismissal was unfair within the meaning of section 57(3) of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 in that there was no substantial ground for his dismissal and also that the dismissal was carried out in an unfair manner. The appellant further claimed that his dismissal constituted racial discrimination within section 1 of the Race Relations Act 1976.

    After a very long and complicated hearing, the Industrial Tribunal dismissed all the appellant's allegations save those hereafter mentioned. In particular, the Industrial Tribunal held that the appellant's complaints of racial discrimination and victimisation relating to his failure to obtain certain appointments were groundless, that there was no long term conspiracy against him, that there was no direct evidence of ill-will or malice against him on grounds of his race or otherwise. In general, with one exception, the Industrial Tribunal exonerated the local authority and its employees from the charges made against them. The one exception was that the Industrial Tribunal held that the dismissal of the appellant was unfair and racially discriminatory. It is the reasoning of the Industrial Tribunal on those two issues which is the subject matter of this appeal.

    The Industrial Tribunal found the dismissal to be unfair, not on the grounds that no reasonable employer could have reasonably decided to dismiss the appellant, but on the grounds that the manner in which his dismissal was conducted was unfair. The Tribunal found that the local authority had been guilty of unreasonable delay and had failed to investigate some allegations at the appropriate time, to issue appropriate warnings and to advise the appellant of the matters in relation to which his conduct was under investigation. On those grounds the Tribunal found the dismissal to be unfair for the purposes of the Act of 1978.

    The Industrial Tribunal then turned to the claim based on racial discrimination under the Act of 1976, section 1(1) of which provides:

"A person discriminates against another in any circumstances relevant for the purposes of any…