An Armenian HMRC trainee, identified as Ms X, has won £16,000 in a race discrimination case after her manager accused her of wanting to “get back at Russia for killing my family”. An employment tribunal found the allegation was based on an inaccurate record of a meeting and that the investigation and disciplinary process were discriminatory.

Ms X had raised concerns that her former surname, which she said identified her as Armenian from Abkhazia, was visible to HMRC’s 65,000 employees. She later questioned her training assignment and said her Russian language and cultural knowledge could be useful in Customs & International Trade. Her manager’s meeting notes turned this into the alleged threat; an investigation found the allegation proven and issued her a written warning. The article says she appealed, but its text ends before describing the appeal’s outcome or the tribunal’s full reasoning.