Woman who resigned from Havant and South Downs College after racial discrimination incident is given £68,000 from tribunal

In December 2019, an email was sent out by a member of staff at Havant and South Downs College (HSDC) claiming that a colleague, Betty Knight, was ‘unfortunately throwing the E&D (equality and diversity) black comment at me.’ Ms Knight resigned shortly after the incident as her mental health deteriorated.

Now, following an employment tribunal in Southampton, the college has been instructed to pay out £68,529.81 for damages.

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The tribunal report stated: ‘The tribunal has found that an email sent amounted to harassment related to the claimant’s race. The tribunal found that the claimant resigned, in part, because of that email and, therefore, the constructive dismissal of the claimant was an act of harassment.

‘The claimant was signed off work with stress from December 24 2019 until her resignation. We found, in our reconsideration decision, that the claimant was aware of that email by May 26 2020 at the latest.’

Following the incident, there were an additional four breaches of Ms Knight’s contract, leading to her resignation in February 2021.

The tribunal heard how Ms Knight’s mental health was affected by the racial harassment and her being signed off work – with a GP diagnosis of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, followed by sleepless nights, heart palpitations, low mood and a growing dependency on alcohol.

Before the trial, her GP wrote that Ms Knight was ‘still really struggling, not sleeping, feeling low and anxious, work have ignored the letter from her and her solicitor, so looking like it is going to need to go to tribunal which she realises she needs to be strong.’

The employment tribunal ruled that the college would have to pay out for a loss of earnings and pension contributions, plus interest and ‘injury to feelings’.

It has also been recommended that the college issue a letter to all employees at the Alton campus, where the incident occurred. Formal equality and diversity training will also be provided by an external provider to staff members who were involved in the incident.