'Perplexing' | Why did bosses allow white worker to WFH, but reject black colleague's same request?

A black employee was told she couldn’t work from home, at the same time that a white colleague was permitted to, despite them both needing to care for clinically vulnerable relatives.

Abi Balogun had made her request to work remotely, as she was caring for her son while he underwent cancer treatment, during the UK’s third round of lockdown restrictions in early 2021.

But Cubitt Town Infants School in Isle of Dogs, London – where Balogun was working as a Special Needs and Disabilities Assistant – rejected the single mother’s request.

The employment tribunal heard that she fought back against the decision after discovering that a white colleague in a similar role had been permitted to work remotely because her mother was shielding due to a health condition.