The employment tribunal dismissed all the claims made by a Met Police sergeant, who had brought 271 allegations of discrimination based on race, disability, harassment, victimisation, and whistleblowing.
Sonny Kalar was employed by the Metropolitan Police from 1983 until 2023, when he retired. He filed the claim after what he calls a “collective Witch Hunt” and a “culture of institutional racism and misogyny”.
He cited several incidents in relation to each claim. One was when a colleague called his a “numpty”, but the tribunal found that it had been said “in a light-hearted manner”, and did not constitute any form of discrimination.
The court heard that Kalar’s chief inspector called him while he was recovering from an operation on his knee in July 2022 and said “living the Dream”.
It was a disability discrimination, Kalar told the tribunal.
Another allegation is that he received a punishment post when he moved to Heathrow Terminal 2 terminal in August 2017. He described this as a regressive move because he worked there in 2008 as an acting inspector.
Kalar claimed that he had been “monitored by CCTV” at Heathrow, for reasons other than policing. However, the tribunal determined that it was not harassment, and that there was no connection between his race or his work.
Richard Nicolle, Employment Judge Richard Nicolle, said that from early 2020 there was increasing evidence that the claimant focused on creating evidence for a possible legal claim.
In March 2020, Kalar sent a text to a colleague stating “this is great fire again”, indicating that he was searching for evidence to back up his claims of discrimination or unfavourable treatment.
The judge concluded many of the accusations were “inherently inconsistent”, “scattergun”, and added that “he labeled virtually every accusation as harassment based on race and disability”. Kalar’s allegations were all dismissed.
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