A security guard who was sacked after CCTV footage showed he spent hours lying barefoot on a sofa instead of doing patrols has lost a discrimination claim.
On September 2, 2024, Mohammed Ouslimane was working a night shift as a relief security officer at Premier Foods premises when a manager reviewing security footage found he had been lying down on a sofa in the main reception area with his shoes and socks off, an employment tribunal heard.
Timestamped stills of the security footage were sent to Mr Ouslimane’s employer, Octoga Security Services, showing that he had not moved or put his socks and shoes back on for at least two hours between 3.30am and 5.30am, the tribunal further heard.
Octoga contracts manager Anthony Brain told the Watford Employment Tribunal in a witness statement that he “felt upset” when he received the photographs of Mr Ouslimane.
“I was seriously concerned by the fact the claimant had his shoes and socks removed,” Mr Brain told the tribunal.
“The claimant’s shoes and socks are visible next to a desk in the middle of the screen.
“Security officers must be suitably dressed and ready to react to any security incident on site, for both their own safety and the security of others.
“Due to the location of the claimant’s feet, I also held hygiene concerns,” Mr Brain added.
“It was painful to see such conduct.”
Mr Ouslimane, who is of Moroccan origin and a Muslim, was dismissed on September 10, 2024 and later lodged a complaint for racial and religious discrimination against Octoga Security Services, the judge heard. He claimed he only had to patrol the premises at 2am, 5am and 7am, and that he had done so on the night of September 2 2024.
He told employment judge Oliver Hyams his conduct during the shift was “human nature”, according to the tribunal judgment.
“Nothing got stolen or broken,” Mr Ouslimane told the judge. “We are all humans; we do make mistakes.
“They were just being picky,” Mr Ouslimane added. “They picked on me. They were just being spiteful.
“I believe that if my name was Michael I would not have been criticised.”
Employment judge Hyams dismissed the claim at a hearing on October 29, concluding that “the real and only reason for the termination of the claimant’s employment with the respondent was his conduct during the morning of 2 September 2024”.
“I concluded that the claimant had not moved from the sofa on which he was sitting (or if he had done so, then he had not gone outside the building) between 03:35 and 05:34 on 2 September 2024,” the judge added.
“I therefore concluded that the claimant had not carried out a patrol of the outside of the building at 5am on that day.
“There was, in my view, nothing in the facts as found by me and the evidence before me, from which I could have drawn the inference that the claimant was dismissed to any extent because of his Moroccan nationality or his religion.”
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