An employment tribunal has dismissed a man’s claim for race discrimination against Liverpool Football Club.
Asad Farooq was hired by the club as a first team operations officer in November 2022. This position involved assisting the team on a daily basis.
He claimed that he was not selected for an interview because of his British Asian heritage, and that “unconscious prejudice” prevented him from progressing.
The tribunal heard there were 487 applicants for the position, of which 444 were reviewed and reduced to a shortlist.
His salary demands were the reason for his initial rejection by the club. He asked for PS35,000 which was 10% more than the salary that had been set for this role.
The second time around, after the first candidate turned down the offer of employment, the application was re-considered and he did not progress because he lacked experience in the role as a member of the first team.
The hiring manager Louise Dobson said to the tribunal that Liverpool was looking for someone who dealt with “players, coaching staff on a daily basis”.
Farooq had been managing a catering service contract for the Qatar 2022 World Cup when he applied.
He told the court that he felt he was being discriminated against when he learned that a temporary employee with limited experience had filled in the position until the correct candidate could be located.
The successful candidate has joined Liverpool after joining Blackburn Rovers in 2019, where he was academy football operations manager, and pre-academy director since 2019.
Ann Nicola Benson, a judge at the Employment Court, said that Farooq’s application was rejected because “race had no role” in it.
She added, however, that despite the fact that the club was given the chance to disclose its racial statistics, it had not done so. She said that “the tribunal believes it is possible to infer from this fact that the statistics aren’t good”.
Despite this, Benson stated that the majority of the panel believed that there was no evidence or inference to suggest that the rejection had anything to do his race.
Two magistrates seated with her were of a different opinion, and argued that Farooq had been brought forward for an interview.
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