Racism on the Shop Floor – Employers Can Expect to Carry the Can

Some shop floors are rough and ready places where foul language abounds, but if a worker makes a racist or other discriminatory comment it is likely to be the employer who ends up carrying the legal can. An Employment Tribunal (ET) ruling underlined the necessity of keeping a lid on things and…

Feb 03, 2021

The case concerned a black machine operator who was furious that his line manager had reported him for alleged unsafe use of machinery. A fierce altercation developed between them on the shop floor, during which he alleged that the manager subjected him to an obscene racial slur. Following a disciplinary process, he was dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct.

After he launched proceedings, the ET found that, when he complained about the slur, the factory’s general manager took a dismissive approach in describing the matter as irrelevant. That amounted to less favourable treatment because of his race. Turning a blind eye to what, if proven, would obviously have been a racist comment was in itself an act of unlawful race discrimination.

In also upholding the man’s racial harassment complaint, the ET found that his line manager had in fact made the racist comment, albeit in the heat of the moment. Facebook material emanating from the manager’s account suggested that he held, or at least sympathised with, some extreme views on race. The material, and the answers he gave when asked about it, indicated that he was more likely than most to refer to a black person in derogatory terms.

The man’s dismissal was unfair in that his complaint about the racial slur had been investigated only in a half-hearted and superficial manner. There was also a failure to properly address his complaint that his treatment was inconsistent in that his line manager had not been subjected to any disciplinary process.

The ET rejected the man’s other complaints of race discrimination together with his claim that his dismissal was racially motivated. Given his role in the altercation – he had thrown a cup at the wall and violence might have ensued had the men not been separated – the ET found that he was 30 per cent responsible for his dismissal. The amount of compensation payable to him by his former employer in respect of the upheld complaints would be assessed at a further hearing, if not agreed.

College Student Required to Work Late Succeeds in Age Discrimination Claim

Mentions of age discrimination may bring to mind images of grey-haired employees being treated less favourably than their younger colleagues. As a case concerning a teenage college student showed, however, young people enjoy the same legal protection as their elders. The student was delighted to find his first job as a restaurant waiter. He was contracted to work 16 hours a week, later reduced to 11 hours, and objected when his manager quite often required him to work between 11pm and midnight.…

Availability of Furlough Scheme Rendered Redundancy Unreasonable

A great many businesses were plunged into grave financial difficulties by the COVID-19 pandemic, but was it reasonable to make employees redundant at a time when the furlough scheme provided a less draconian option? An Employment Tribunal (ET) considered that issue in a ground-breaking case. A woman who was employed as a practice manager by a consultant surgeon was dismissed after the pandemic caused a downturn in the practice’s financial position. After she launched proceedings, an ET found…

Exposure to Toxic Substances at Work – Guideline Court of Appeal Ruling

Exposure to toxic substances at work is often cited as a possible cause of diseases developed later in life. However, as an important Court of Appeal ruling made plain, establishing the plausibility of such causal links may not, by itself, be enough to succeed in an occupational injury claim. The case concerned a man who developed Parkinson’s disease after working for an industrial employer for almost 40 years. After he launched a personal injury claim, a judge found that he had been exposed on…