Lincolnshire doctor awarded £250k in race discrimination case

A doctor is set to receive more than £250,000 from a Lincolnshire hospital trust after he was sacked for gross misconduct over alleged bullying.

Professor Tanweer Ahmed had worked without blemish at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust for 16 years and was director of Lincolnshire Clinical Research Facility at the time of the allegations. He also chaired the black, asian and minority ethnic staff network.

In spring 2022, his claims for direct race discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal succeeded, though his claim for harassment failed. Now, after further considerations and by consent, Judge Victoria Butler at the East Midlands tribunal has awarded Prof Ahmed £256,032, comprising of a basic award of £11,288; a loss of statutory rights £500, loss of salary £163,834 and loss of pension £80,410.

Allegations of bullying and harassment were made against the professor by a former member of his team after they resigned in 2018. Ahmed said the allegations were a “malicious retaliation”.

The tribunal judge ruled there were many flaws in the Trust’s handling of the 2019 investigation and dismissal. For example, the investigation report by then deputy chief nurse, Jennie Negus, included only people who supported the allegations the tribunal heard. Additionally, a number of those questioned had left Ahmed’s department before the accusations surfaced.

Ahmed’s personal assistant, who had not been interviewed, described the allegations as “laughable” and many were disproved.

Ahmed had been unaware of the nature of the allegations for almost a year.

The Trust’s HR director Martin Rayson escalated the report findings to a hearing that would consider dismissal despite the report recommending a development plan, not disciplinary action. The tribunal heard that Rayson warned Ahmed’s line manager: “Tanweer will play the race card I expect.”

Ahmed was fired for gross misconduct by the panel, but the employment tribunal said the decision was “entirely biased”.

The tribunal found the Trust had not presented any logical reason why Ahmed was fired and could not rule out racism. The NHS trust disciplinary procedure was mishandled at almost every stage, putting him through years of stress.

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.”

CEO of Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals Group (LCHG) Professor Karen Dunderdale promised that the large remedy award would not impact patient care, and added: “We accept the tribunal’s finding, at the initial liability hearing, that we made mistakes in how we approached the investigation into the bullying complaints raised against Professor Ahmed.

“We would like to apologise to Professor Ahmed for our failings in our internal process. The issues in this case date back to 2018, and we believe that we have moved on significantly as an organisation in the intervening seven years since these matters were first raised.”

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