A man who filed a race discrimination claim against Liverpool Football Club has had his case dismissed by the employment tribunal.
Asad Farooq applied for a job with the club in November 2022 as a first-team operations officer, which involved supporting the team with day-to-day activities.
He was not shortlisted for interview, and he later claimed that this was because of his British Asian heritage and that “unconscious bias” had prevented his application progressing.
The tribunal heard that there were 487 applications for the role, 444 of which were considered and then reduced into a shortlist.
Race discrimination
Payroll exec wins £40k compensation after dismissal for racism claims
Radio presenter ‘replaced because of accent’ loses race claim
The club said that his application had been initially rejected due to his salary demands. He had asked for £35,000, 10% more than had been identified for the role.
After the first person to be offered the job turned it down, the applications were considered again and this time he failed to progress due to a lack of experience in a first-team role.
Hiring manager Louise Dobson told the tribunal that Liverpool had been looking for “somebody who was dealing with players, coaching staff, on a day-to-day level”.
When he applied, Farooq was managing a catering contract at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
He told the tribunal that he believed he had been discriminated against after he discovered that a temporary worker with limited experience was filling in the post until the right candidate could be found.
The successful candidate joined Liverpool from Blackburn Rovers, where he had been academy football operations manager and pre-academy manager since 2019.
Employment Judge Ann Nicola Benson said that “race played no part” in Farooq’s application being turned down.
However, she added that the club had not disclosed its racial diversity statistics, despite being given the opportunity to do so. “The tribunal considers an inference can be drawn from this that the statistics are not good,” she said.
Despite this, Judge Benson said the majority view of the tribunal panel was that there were no facts or inference that the rejection was anything to do with his race.
One of two magistrates sitting with her disagreed, arguing that Farooq should have been taken forward for an interview.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Employee relations opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more Employee Relations jobs
