In Khawaja v Transport for London, K, who is of South Asian Pakistani origin, claimed that Ms Clarke, his manager, subjected him to direct race discrimination by allegedly commenting “since English is not your first language, I did not assign you to attend any conference calls or operations centre huddles. I think that you may give the wrong information due to your lack of command of the English Language” and, as a result, denying him the opportunity to attend calls and huddles. C denied making the comment, but accepted that if she had, she would not say this to someone who was White British. The ET upheld K’s claim, finding that: (a) C had made the comment as it was corroborated by one of the employer’s own witnesses; (b) a hypothetical comparator, not of South Asian Pakistani origin, would have been allowed to attend huddles and conference calls; and (c) K had been treated less favourably, but the employer was unable to show that his treatment was in no sense whatsoever because of race.

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