LONDON: An Indian librarian working at Cambridge university’s Trinity College has lost an employment tribunal case in which she was suing the college for race discrimination after not being allowed to take an entire academic term off to go to India.
Dr Havovi Anklesaria, who has worked in the library of Trinity College since 1994, wanted to take four months off from Dec to April each year to go to India to care for her parents and visit other family members.
Anklesaria is an Indian national with indefinite leave to remain in the UK. She used to return to India annually, from mid-Dec to mid-April, as she had previously been on a casual contract with the college. However, she was switched to a permanent contract in Sept 2021 and at that point the college said it could not allow her to take those four months off and she could take three months off in the summer instead.
She then took Trinity College to the employment tribunal, claiming direct and indirect race discrimination based on her race. She also claimed victimisation, saying she was victimised for bringing employment tribunal proceedings as she was not offered invigilation work between April 2022 and Sept 2022.
Andrew Speak, human resources director at the college, told the tribunal the college was agreeable to Anklesaria having extended breaks each year, provided it “is not for an entire term”.
Speak said that would apply to anyone of any nationality who is on a permanent contract.
Employment judge Freshwater dismissed her claims for indirect and direct race discrimination and victimisation. He said: “No employee working for the college under a permanent contract is allowed to be absent from work for an entire term. Anklesaria was offered a contract that would have permitted her to have a break of three months over the summer. She did not accept this. We do not find that she was treated less favourably because of her nationality.”
He added she was not offered invigilation work because a decision was taken to offer it to post-doctoral members and postgraduate students instead.