Trade union Unison is going to ask the Commission for Racial Equality to investigate the Housing Corporation after it paid £75,000 to an employee who made allegations of racism.
The corporation paid the money to Lin Rowe, its most senior black officer outside London, on the first day of an employment tribunal hearing in May.

Rowe said she had been unfairly dismissed and had suffered racial discrimination – charges the corporation denied.

She was suspended from her job as the coporation's assistant director for lead regulation in their Wolverhampton office after making complaints about the corporation's management, before being sacked the following July.

Mounting costs forced Rowe to pull out of the tribunal, she said.

If the case had continued for longer she would have had to sell her house, she added.

"I would have carried on if there was legal aid for tribunals," she said.

Unison, of which Rowe is a member, said a "root-and-branch" investigation of the corporation's approach to race equality must be carried out.

There are few black and minority-ethnic people in senior positions in the corporation

Stuart Barber, Unison

Stuart Barber, regional officer for Unison said: "The corporation is a high-profile employer and there are few black and minority-ethnic people in senior positions.

"They need a root-and-branch reform, and we will be approaching the CRE."

The corporation would not comment on the prospect of a CRE investigation, but corporation chief executive Jon Rouse said: "We can't make a judgment on the basis of just one case, which is an incredibly complex one. Our track record is not bad.

"I am not happy that this case occurred and we have to learn the lessons but I do not think we should make policy pronouncements on just one case. We reached a fair settlement."

A spokesman for the Housing Corporation added: "The corporation is pleased to have achieved a resolution to this matter that avoids the need for a lengthy and costly hearing, and is in the best interests of the public purse.

"The corporation has consistently and confidently denied any wrongdoing, and we are pleased that all claims have therefore been withdrawn."

Source

Housing Today