In the case of Professor Tanweer Ahmed v United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Prof Ahmed joined ULHT in 2003 as director of Lincoln Clinical Research Facility, director of research innovation, and was also chair of the BAME staff network.
Allegations of bullying and harassment were raised by a former member of Prof Ahmed’s team after she resigned in 2018, the tribunal heard. The accusations “relied heavily on hearsay” from other colleagues who no longer worked at the Trust and dated back a number of years.
An investigation only began in early 2019, nearly a year later. The report did not recommend any disciplinary action and it was agreed a development plan was an appropriate response. However, HR director Martin Rayson directed that the matter proceed to a disciplinary hearing which would look into Prof Ahmed’s dismissal.
The tribunal was told an email sent by Mr Rayson to Prof Ahmed’s line manager said: “Tanweer will play the race card I suspect.”
He was later sacked for gross misconduct, despite a colleague who worked closely with him describing the allegations as “laughable”.
The tribunal found the Trust didn’t present any logical reason why he was fired and could not come up with an explanation to rule out racism. The NHS trust disciplinary procedure was mishandled at almost every stage, putting him through years of stress. The tribunal found that he had been the victim of racial discrimination, unfair dismissal and victimisation.
The employment tribunal concluded: “We cannot see how [the Trust] legitimately concluded that he was guilty of gross misconduct. We cannot, therefore, conclude on the balance of probabilities that race had nothing whatsoever to do with his dismissal.”
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