A court worker from east London who claimed she was removed due to race discrimination has lost her case against the Ministry of Justice.
The East London employment tribunal found that the claimant, a black woman named as Ms A Adegbite, had not presented any cogent evidence that she was treated less favourably. Neither was there any evidence that race was a factor in her assignment being terminated.
Adegbite had been an agency worker who worked as a list caller at Barkingside and Thames Magistrates Courts from November 2021. She was said to ‘habitually’ arrive late for work and her colleague had to ensure that her lists were delivered to the necessary people to avoid any inconvenience to the court.
It was agreed that Adegbite had fallen asleep in court and struggled to take in training in the morning. On one occasion, she left the courtroom unattended at Thames which allowed a member of the public to enter and violently throw a holy book on the court floor. She was warned after this incident that if she left a courtroom without locking it again, her assignment may be terminated.
The tribunal accepted her colleague’s evidence that when she was assigned to post-court duties, her work was inefficient and impacted negatively on the team’s overall performance.
Adegbite had claimed that three of her colleagues repeatedly hid her courtroom keys, mobile panic alarm and her clipboard with the court register. But she provided no details about when these incidents happened and did not complain about them at the time. The tribunal found it ‘inherently improbable’ that professional court staff would act like this, particularly as regularly as was alleged. The tribunal also rejected the claim that court staff deliberately failed to make a copy of the register for her.
Adegbite arrived at work late (citing a flat tyre) on 21 December 2022 and found her name no longer appeared on the rota. When she phoned the agency she was told her assignment had been terminated due to ‘business needs’.
She lodged a complaint, alleging that she was discriminated against on the grounds of race and saying the investigation into her conduct was inadequate. She also submitted that she had received only 20 minutes’ training on the email system, but this claim was out of time.
On race discrimination, the tribunal said Adegbite had relied on the fact that her manager was white, but that in itself was not sufficient to shift the burden of proof top the MoF.
The claimant did not explain in her witness statement why she believed that race was a factor in her treatment, and only during the hearing did she mention that another black member of staff had also been dismissed. The tribunal said it was unfair to expect the MoJ to respond to evidence raised for the first time in the middle of a hearing.
