Chief Justice Wayne Martin has handed down judgment in Mahmood v Standard Chartered Bank DIFC (CFI 044/2021, 1 October 2024) in the first-ever discrimination and victimisation case decided under the DIFC Employment Law.
The claimant, a British national of Asian origin, was employed as the bank’s Head of Compliance for Global Islamic Banking, based in Dubai, until his employment was terminated by reason of redundancy. His claims for whistleblowing detriment and dismissal were struck out at a preliminary hearing. At trial, he claimed to be the victim of a long-term racist conspiracy involving many senior managers of the global bank in a large number of jurisdictions. He sought the maximum compensatory award for numerous acts of discrimination under Article 59 and victimisation under Article 60 of DIFC Employment Law No 2 of 2019. He claimed an uplift in damages of three times pursuant to Article 40(2) DIFC Law of Damages and Remedies No 7 of 2005. He also claimed that the Bank should be fined for breaching its statutory duty to provide and maintain a workplace free of discrimination and victimisation and without risks to health and safety under Article 43(2) DIFC Employment Law.
Following a multi-week trial in the new DIFC Courts, Chief Justice Wayne Martin dismissed each and every allegation made by the claimant in a comprehensive 188-page judgment. In doing so, for the first time, the DIFC Court has clarified many important aspects of DIFC law and provided welcome guidance on the practice and procedure of bringing and conducting such complex and high-value discrimination claims. The judgment will be of interest to all dispute resolution and employment law practitioners in the DIFC, ADGM and other Middle East offshore jurisdictions.
A copy of the judgment can be found here.
Mohinderpal Sethi K.C. appeared for Standard Chartered Bank. He was instructed by Ben Brown and David True of Clyde & Co LLP and Yasser Shabbir of Standard Chartered Bank.
Mohinderpal Sethi K.C. specialises in domestic, international and offshore commercial, employment, partnership and sport litigation and arbitration. He is a Top-Ranked Silk in Chambers Global and Legal 500 EMEA. He won Senior Counsel of the Year (International Employment Lawyer Awards 2023), Employment Silk of the Year (Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023), and Civil Lawyer of the Year (Asian Legal Awards 2022). He is the immediate past Chair of the UK’s Employment Law Bar Association and currently Co-Head of the Middle East Group.
