Manager's charge against former employer fuelled victimisation by Brunel, tribunal rules

Brunel University victimised a senior manager because he had an outstanding race discrimination complaint against his former employer, a tribunal has ruled.

The London employment tribunal has found that Harinder Bahra was treated less favourably at Brunel, where he was marketing director, because of a race discrimination allegation he had made while with his previous employer, Southampton Institute.

Mr Bahra, who was an associate dean at Southampton Institute's Business School, left the institute in acrimonious circumstances.

He is a Sikh of Indian origin and was employed by Brunel in June 2003. Four months later he was sacked on the grounds that he had not passed his probationary period.

A spokeswoman for Brunel said the full tribunal judgment had not yet been delivered, so the university was unable to comment in detail.

She added: "We have received the reserved judgment on the Bahra case and we are pleased that the tribunal found no evidence to support Mr Bahra's claim that he was treated unfavourably due to his race.

"However, we do not agree with the second finding that he was treated less favourably on the grounds of having brought Race Relations Act Proceedings against another institution, and we will request leave to appeal.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further until we are in receipt of the full judgment."