Usher who fell asleep in court did not suffer discrimination, tribunal rules

An usher who fell asleep in court did not suffer discrimination when she was dismissed from her role, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Adetokunbo Adegbite also left a courtroom unattended which allowed an intruder to “violently throw a holy book on the floor”, the tribunal was told.

Ms Adegbite accused her colleagues of hiding her courtroom keys from her “two to three times a week”, but this allegation was rejected.

The usher, who is black, took the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to an employment tribunal claiming to have suffered race discrimination. Her complaint was dismissed.

The East London employment tribunal heard Ms Adegbite started working for the MoJ in November 2021 at Barkingside and Thames magistrates’ courts in east London.

Court ushers are responsible for directing people where to go in the building and helping them understand what to do.

Ms Adegbite’s duties usually included managing the court room, locking and unlocking it, providing the magistrates, judges and legal advisers with their list for the day and completing certain paperwork, the panel was told.

As part of her race discrimination claim, the agency worker said three of her colleagues “repeatedly hid her courtroom keys, mobile panic alarm and her clipboard … preventing her from doing her job”.

She told the tribunal the colleagues had “always wanted me to be dismissed and I don’t know why, from hiding the courtroom key, hiding the court alarm … hiding my clipboard, making statements that I will be dismissed etc”.

The hiding of her keys and panic alarm happened “two to three times a week over a period of 11 months in 2022”, she claimed, but the tribunal rejected her allegation.

Ms Adegbite “habitually arrived late for work” and was “struggling to take in training in the mornings”, the tribunal heard.

There was a history of performance concerns. Ms Adegbite had been tried out in various roles and had not impressed in any of them

In April 2022, she left a courtroom unattended at Thames Magistrates’ Court, which “allowed a member of the public to enter and violently throw a holy book on the court floor”, the panel was told.

Holy books are kept in courts for religious witnesses and defendants to take the oath.

She was warned that if a similar incident occurred again, her assignment may be terminated, the tribunal was told.

By December 2022, the usher’s bosses did decide to end her stint at the MoJ, and having arrived late again at work because of a “flat tyre”, she discovered her name was not on the rota, the tribunal heard.

Dismissing her claim in a written decision, the tribunal concluded: “There was a history of performance concerns.

“Ms Adegbite had been tried out in various roles and had not impressed in any of them.”

There is “no evidence whatsoever” that her manager was in any way influenced in his decision by her race, the tribunal said.