Civil servant sued MoD for racism after being disciplined for working in Uber

Telegraph

23-04-2025

A civil servant sued for racism after he was disciplined for taking an Uber to the airport during working hours, an employment tribunal has heard.
Victor Stanley-Idum, a senior executive officer at the Ministry of Defence, claimed his manager held a stereotypical view of 'black Africans being lazy' after he was given an official warning for his 'casual attitude to working hours'.
He gave a series of excuses for why he was away from his desk, including that he needed to go and buy a vacuum cleaner, the tribunal was told.
Sharon Docherty, his manager, gave Mr Stanley-Idum an informal warning on Oct 27 2021 for repeatedly being unavailable for work without giving prior warning.
Most of the incidents took place in the autumn of 2021 while the department was largely working remotely – a legacy of the pandemic – which meant 'management supervision was almost entirely absent'.
As a result of the complaints, he was placed on a strict timetable which dictated the exact hours he was expected to work and meant he had to outline his objectives and achievements each day.
The project manager had unsuccessfully launched a grievance over his treatment in January 2022, claiming he was subject to 'a racial stereotype of laziness and dishonesty' and being 'bullied at work'.
He then sued the MoD for race and disability discrimination, race harassment and victimisation. He initially brought the claim against five individuals, but ultimately only pursued the claim against the MoD.
All claims rejected
Many of his claims were submitted to the court too late, and of those that were valid, none were upheld by the tribunal.
Employment Judge Tim Adkin said: 'He was working remotely, as indeed were most of his colleagues. There were a series of concerns raised about his output and it was difficult to monitor what [he] was working on.
'There is evidence that he was taking time during the working day to do things that were unrelated to work.
'We have not formed the impression based on all the evidence in this case that Mrs Docherty held a stereotypical view of black Africans being lazy or dishonest nor indeed that that was a widely held stereotype.'
Mr Stanley-Idum had tried to justify his unplanned absences by citing disruption in his personal life, including 'broadband issues' experienced while he was moving house, which meant he was offline for hours.
While he claimed he had completed his morning's work on his phone and laptop in the back of the Uber when picking up family from the airport on October 12 2021, the tribunal found this 'unconvincing'.
MoD bosses believed he was giving them 'inconsistent or inaccurate accounts' and were also concerned about his availability after he failed to attend a team away day at Sandhurst military academy in Berkshire two weeks earlier.
Although he had indicated he would join the team-building outing in person, he ended up attending virtually. Managers also noted he logged on late and left early.
In September 2022, amid growing concerns about his performance and behaviour, he missed an email inviting him to a meeting because 'he had taken a break and run to the store to buy a new Hoover', the tribunal heard.
The proceedings, held remotely, heard that Mr Stanley-Idum started work at the MoD as an analyst in April 2017 before being promoted to work as a project manager in the central transformation team in April 2020, a month after lockdown began.
By autumn 2021, however, his managers had significant doubts about his ability to do the job and his 'unorthodox' working style.