Tuesday 24 May 2022 05:40 PM London teaching assistant wins race discrimination case after she was not ... trends now
A black teaching assistant has won a race discrimination case after she was banned from working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic while her white colleague was allowed to.
Abi Balogun showed Cubitt Town Infants' School in London a letter saying that her young son who was battling cancer and vulnerable should shield at home during the pandemic.
Ms Balogun told an employment tribunal she explained to the infant school's deputy head Emmy Alcock she had to ‘do what’s right for my family’ and avoid a possible Covid infection.
However, Ms Alcock ordered her to attend and threatened her with no pay.
And when Ms Balogun questioned why a white, less qualified assistant was given permission to work from home, the deputy head terminated her contract the Isle of Dog school.
The special needs and disabilities assistant is in line to receive compensation after she successfully sued the school for race discrimination and victimisation.
Worried Abi Balogun told Cubitt Town Infants' School (pictured) bosses she had to 'do what's right for my family' and stay at home as her young son was battling cancer and vulnerable
An East London Employment Tribunal heard how Ms Balogun's son was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment in January 2021.
This was when the UK was plunged into its third lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Balogun who was employed by an agency, Teaching Personnel Limited, as a teaching assistant at the school was told it would be 'non contact' work and would be preparing work packs in a classroom.
Previously, she had been allowed by the school to stay at home while 'the shielding advice for her son was in place'.
But the deputy head Ms Alcock told the mother-of-two, the court heard, that the government guidance only required the vulnerable person to shield and she should come into work.
A female assistant, named only as 'LC', carried out a similar role to Ms Balogun and was permitted to work from home from January 2021 as her mother was a vulnerable person and was shielding.
On January 28, Ms Balogun texted Ms Alcock: 'Hi Emmy, I've made a conscious decision to do what's right for my family and stay home during the lockdown.
'It is impossible to work in isolation in school. Staff are
