A Muslim woman who was repeatedly asked if she drank alcohol and wore a bikini on the beach was not discriminated against, a tribunal ruled.

Scientist Jwan Abdullah, 39, was quizzed by a colleague about whether she drank alcohol, wore a bikini on the beach and even whether she had had an arranged marriage, an employment tribunal heard.

June SIllars, a University of Glasgow lab worker, also asked why Ms Abdullah would want to “lose her liberation” by potentially moving to the Middle East.

Ms Abdulah said that as a Muslim she felt humiliated by her colleague, and sued the university for race discrimination.

However, a tribunal threw out her claims, ruling the university had acted properly in dealing with her complaint about the “profoundly embarrassing and oppressive” conversation, and had been prevented from taking formal action because Ms Abdullah did not want to meet Ms Sillars over her behaviour.

The tribunal, held in Glasgow, heard Ms Abdullah started working at the university as a lab scientist in January 2021, testing PCR Covid samples.

Ms Abdullah, who is of Kurdish Iraqi nationality, is a practising Muslim, but was subjected to “taunting” comments about her religion less than a month after starting.

The panel heard that in February 2021, two of Ms Abdullah’s colleagues approached their team leader to raise “concerns” about the manner in which fellow lab scientist Ms Sillars had spoken to her.

The panel heard Ms Sillars “badgered” Ms Abdullah about her alcohol consumption and “made light of her religious beliefs”. She asked her: “Not even a glass of wine at night? Not even one glass? What about a rum truffle?”

When asked, Ms Abudullah “repeatedly said no” but was “continually” questioned in a manner that left her “visibly uncomfortable”.

In a formal complaint to her boss, Ms Abdullah said Ms Sillars had “laughed and mocked” all her answers about drinking, before questioning why she didn’t smoke shisha, as that was her “culture”.

Ms Abdullah’s manager said he was “deeply sorry” that she felt “humiliated” before later offering a meeting with Ms Sillars. However, Ms Abdullah did not want to meet her.

The panel heard Ms Sillars was spoken to about her “unacceptable” behaviour. She was “very upset” and claimed she had “simply engaged in banter’”.

She wanted to meet personally with Ms Abdullah to apologise.

In December 2021, Ms Abdullah raised a grievance where she said she had been bullied and discriminated against in a working environment that was “like a jungle”.

The grievance was not upheld but recommendations were made to “support her longer-term career”. Her appeal was also rejected.

In February 2022, Ms Abdullah resigned citing the alleged discrimination she had suffered.

Employment Judge Murdo Macleod said Ms Abdullah “should not have had to put up with” the conversation with Ms Sillars but said it had been dealt with “swiftly and decisively” and that colleagues had supported her by raising it with management before she did.

The panel ruled that because Ms Abdullah had refused to meet Ms Sillars, the complaint was treated as “informal” because of her reluctance to cause trouble for Ms Sillars.

Judge Macleod added: “The tribunal’s strong impression was [her line manager] understood very readily why the claimant felt uncomfortable and humiliated by this conversation, and would have preferred to have taken more formal action upon the complaint, but was restrained from doing so by her own wishes.”

The panel dismissed all her claims of direct race discrimination as there was “no basis” to suggest Ms Abdullah had been treated less favourably.