Edinburgh council guilty of racial discrimination over 'astonishing' treatment of Lithuanian social worker

Victim wins £28,000 compensation over council’s ‘entirely unreasonable’ treatment
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Edinburgh City Council has been found guilty of racial discrimination in a damning judgement by an employment tribunal.

The tribunal said a social worker from Lithuania, identified in the judgement just as Ms S Stanyte, was subjected to an unjustified disciplinary investigation and treated in “an entirely unreasonable manner” on the basis of her nationality and was “traumatised” as a result. It said it was “astonished” that a council would behave in such a way and added Ms Stanyte had been treated “almost like a criminal”. It awarded her compensation totalling £28,664.93.

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Ms Stanyte had qualified as a social worker in Lithuania and worked in Belfast for nine years before moving to Edinburgh and joining the council’s social work department in the Drug Treatment and Testing Order team in January 2022. But there was a mix-up over whether or not she could take up her role before her registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) was completed.

The tribunal said it was 'astonished' that a council could treat an employee in the way Ms Stanyte was treated.  Picture: Scott Louden.The tribunal said it was 'astonished' that a council could treat an employee in the way Ms Stanyte was treated.  Picture: Scott Louden.
The tribunal said it was 'astonished' that a council could treat an employee in the way Ms Stanyte was treated. Picture: Scott Louden.

Her offer of employment said she would have to achieve registration within six months. And she was told by the official who recruited her – named by the tribunal just as Mr Cross – that he had consulted the SSSC and been told that since she was already registered with the equivalent Northern Ireland body, she would have 12 months from starting work in which to obtain SSSC registration. But in February the SSSC contacted the council and emailed Ms Stanyte to say she should not be working as a social worker because she was not fully registered.

An acting senior manager, named as Ms Fuller, ordered that Ms Stanyte must stop working as a social worker immediately and even considered phoning the police. Ms Stanyte was removed from the DTTO team without discussion, sent to work in an alternative role and told an investigation was to begin into an allegation against her which could amount to gross misconduct. Mr Cross told line manager Ms Lawrie he did not believe an investigation was appropriate, the matter should be dealt with informally and Ms Stanyte was not being treated with dignity.

Ms Stanyte raised a grievance through her new line manager, Ms Cowell, over the way she had been treated, but Ms Fuller said she could raise her concerns as part of the disciplinary investigation. She obtained her SSSC registration in April but was told the investigation would continue and was told to rejoin the DTTO team even though she and Ms Cowell both requested that she remain in the alternative role. Ms Cowell, was the only person in the organisation she was allowed to discuss the situation with.

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Ms Stanyte resigned on May 30, 2022, saying: “Being a young woman from Lithuania I had to explain myself why I was appointed to my post.” Ms Fuller wrote to her in June, saying the allegation had been upheld but she had decided not to proceed to a disciplinary hearing. Ms Stanyte was not shown the investigation report and had to go to the Information Commissioner finally to get sight of it in December. The tribunal judgement, which followed a five-day hearing, said she had been “deeply impacted by her treatment and had difficulty sleeping and eating and lost weight” and noted she was “clearly upset and finding it difficult to compose herself throughout almost the entire hearing”.

The judgement said: “The tribunal was astonished that any employee would be treated by a local authority in the way in which [Ms Stanyte] was treated, still less an experienced professional social worker who had only recently moved to this country. Therefore, the tribunal had no hesitation in concluding that [Ms Stanyte] was treated in an entirely unreasonable manner from the decision to subject her to a disciplinary investigation to the decision making throughout the investigation and the way in which its outcome was communicated to [her].”

The tribunal concluded that “no cogent reason” had been advanced by the council for subjecting Ms Stanyte to a disciplinary investigation. And it said: “The tribunal concluded that the reason Ms Fuller subjected [Ms Stanyte] to a disciplinary investigation, insisted she be transferred to another team and then transferred back without notice, continuing the investigation after [she] obtained registration and the way in which the investigation was conducted was all because [Ms Stanyte] was Lithuanian.” It added it seemed “incredible” that Ms Fuller would have acted in a similar way towards a Scottish social worker in the same circumstances.

The tribunal said the council had failed to establish that it had taken all reasonable steps to prevent the discrimination and was therefore liable for the discriminatory conduct. Ms Stanyte had been given no support from the council, other than from Ms Cowell.

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A council spokesperson said: “We’re committed to creating an environment that recognises and values the diversity of all colleagues and people using our services – and to protecting them from discrimination. We’re currently considering the outcome of the tribunal and any steps we need to take.”

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