The Crown Prosecution Service was guilty of race discrimination against one of its own solicitors, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
Halima Aziz, a Muslim whose family came from Pakistan, was suspended from her job after being wrongly accused of making offensive remarks to a court security officer soon after the al Qaida attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
Her suspension was lifted on October 17, 2001, and replaced by a transfer from the Bradford branch of the CPS to the Wakefield office.
By this time, Ms Aziz was unwell and unfit for work and she complained to an employment tribunal that her treatment was discrimination on the grounds of race and sex.
The ET, after a nine-day hearing spread over 13 months, found there had been race discrimination, but not sex discrimination, in a ruling given in June 2004.
The tribunal found that by suspending Ms Aziz, the CPS had acted in breach of its own disciplinary code and would not have treated a white solicitor in the same way.
These findings were reversed by an Employment Appeal Tribunal in May last year and yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled that the ET had made no mistakes and the finding of race discrimination should stand.
Ms Aziz had represented herself at the Court of Appeal.
Lady Justice Smith, giving the lead ruling of the three judges, ordered the case to be sent back to an employment tribunal for an assessment of damages to compensate Ms Aziz for the loss and distress she was caused.
A CPS spokeswoman said: "The CPS has decided not to appeal the judgment by the Court of Appeal.
"Ms Aziz remains a CPS employee and there will now be a remedies hearing.
"This case relates to circumstances that took place in 2001.
"It has been a long and involved process.
"We will consider the judgment carefully and thoroughly and decide what lessons the organisation should learn from it and whether there is any appropriate action that we should take."
She added: "The CPS is, and remains, a committed equal opportunities employer.
"We published one of the first community informed race equality schemes, having consulted with minority ethnic communities.
"We take any form of discrimination very seriously and are determined to continue to ensure that the CPS is an organisation where all employees can thrive and succeed in an environment free of discrimination.
