Lawyer said flatulence was caused by heart medication and argued the request violated his dignity
A senior barrister who sued the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after a colleague asked him to stop breaking wind in the room they worked in together has lost his case.
Tarique Mohammed sued for harassment and told an employment tribunal that his repetitive flatulence was caused by medication he was on for a heart condition.
He said the comment from his colleague Paul McGorry was “embarrassing” and violated his dignity – but the panel found it was a reasonable request to have asked him to stop.
The prosecutor, who suffered a heart attack in 2014, also alleged he was discriminated against because of his disabilities and made a number of further allegations against his co-workers and bosses.
He claimed they threw away his water bottles, asked him to work one day a week 60 miles away and failed to pay for his barrister’s practising certificate while he was on sick leave.
The claims of disability-related discrimination were also thrown out by the panel, chaired by the employment judge Emma Hawksworth, in Reading, Berkshire.
The CPS did accept that it treated Mohammed unfairly by not allowing him to work from home two days a week and leave work at 4pm to help him manage his condition, and by removing him from court duties, meaning he will receive compensation.
His heart condition meant he had to take daily medication, the side-effects of which meant he had to remain at home for...
The Department of Health and Human Services capped off a week of intensive anti-fraud activity with the launching of a six-month healthcare False Claims Act self-disclosure pilot program in partne...