Court rejects authoritys bid to exclude itself as separate entity to ALMO
Leeds Council must defend itself against an accusation of workplace racial discrimination brought by an employee of its arm\’s-length management organisation, the Court of Appeal has found.
A hearing last month marked the end of the line for the council\’s long-running attempt to assert it should not have to answer the case because the ALMO is a separate entity.
Michael Woodhouse, a project manager at West North West Homes in Leeds, alleges he was racially abused by the council\’s clerk of works, Malcolm Chapman, between December 2006 and January 2007.
Leeds Council was named alongside the ALMO as the employer in the case, but applied last July to be excluded. All three respondents – the council, ALMO and Mr Chapman – have denied any wrongdoing.
The Court of Appeal judgement means that Mr Woodhouse\’s case can now proceed to a full hearing because the council has indicated that it will not pursue further appeals.
The council\’s previous appeals were rejected by an Employment Tribunal Hearing in 2008 and the Employment Appeal Tribunal last year.
David Sorensen of Morrish Solicitors, which represents Mr Woodhouse, said the ruling set a precedent which would mean councils would have to take responsibility for staffing issues in ALMOs.
‘It shows that [councils] can\’t just ignore ALMO employees when it comes to treatment… if they hear that their employees may have been mistreated then they have to take those complaints seriously and they have to investigate,\’ he said. ‘Michael is arguing that the council didn\’t do enough.\’
Steve Clark from union Unite said the case had dragged on for too long: ‘I don\’t know why Leeds Council continues its attempts to block the progress of this case,\’ he said. ‘Michael just wants to get it over with and move on, and you\’d think the council would too\’.
A spokesperson for Leeds Council said: ‘We note the decision of the Court of Appeal and we will now turn our attention to defending the tribunal claim.\’
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