A Liberian man who submitted two job applications under different ethnicities has failed in his race discrimination claim against Virgin Atlantic after the Employment Tribunal decided that his original application was rejected because it was a poor match for the job and not because of his race.

Mr Kpakio twice applied for a customer service job with Virgin Atlantic in October 2012.  In the first application, he used his own name and gave his ethnicity as Black African. When this application was rejected, he submitted a second application in which he used the false name Craig Owen and gave his ethnicity as White British.  The second application was selected for telephone interview.  He subsequently brought a claim for direct race discrimination, arguing that his original application had been rejected because of his ethnicity.

The Employment Tribunal found that Mr Kpakio’s application and CV had been rejected because they did not match the requirements for the job.  Furthermore, it noted that there were significant differences between the two applications.  It found that Mr Kpakio had tailored the second  application so that it provided a better fit with the job.

“The Claimant did not merely change the names and ethnicity in the two applications; they were different applications and the false application was clearly designed to meet the Respondent’s criteria for the role.” Employment Tribunal

The Tribunal concluded that Mr Kpakio failed to show that he had suffered direct race discrimination and his claim was dismissed.

Main photo: Arpingstone