North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

Case Summary

The claimant brought claims of unfair dismissal and race discrimination against North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust following termination of his fixed-term locum consultant contract in August 2023. The respondent conceded procedural unfairness but the tribunal found substantively that dismissal was fair because the claimant had failed to obtain specialist registration within the 2-year timeframe that applied to all locum consultants. The race discrimination claim was dismissed as not well-founded; the tribunal found no evidence of less favourable treatment based on race.

The tribunal found the substantive dismissal fair because the claimant had not obtained specialist registration within the 2-year timeframe that applied as a fixed-term condition to all such locum consultant positions; this was a legitimate business reason unrelated to race. The race discrimination claim failed because the claimant had not established facts from which race discrimination could be inferred; the comparator (Katie Marshall) was not in materially similar circumstances as she had already obtained specialist registration and was not subject to GMC undertakings.

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• •Whether the claimant was unfairly dismissed for some other substantial reason (failure to obtain GMC specialist registration)
• •Whether the dismissal was substantively fair under s.98(4) ERA 1996
• •Whether the claimant was directly discriminated against on grounds of race in relation to contract termination and non-shortlisting for consultant posts
• •Comparative treatment with Katie Marshall (shortlisting issue)
• •Whether GMC investigations and specialist registration requirements were pretextual for race discrimination

The full source document is available from the official publication page.