A car dealership in Coventry, under the Listers Group, lost a racial discrimination case after employees insisted their racial slurs were just ‘banter.’
At the employment tribunal in Birmingham the Claimant, Mr Bali, made 13 allegations of unfavourable treatment and harassment. This included racial discrimination, harassment related to race, victimisation and a constructive unfair dismissal claim.
The salesman Mr Bali worked with directed highly offensive insults about him in Urdu and Hindi, and they also nicknamed him ‘Apu’ against his wishes. The employment judge commented: “It seems to us that if individuals swear in a particular language that can only be understood by those of a particular race and those individuals take offence, then that must be less favourable treatment because of race. It is targeted in terms of the audience, whether consciously or not.”
Initially, Mr Bali’s grievances were processed by the head of HR of Listers Group. Mr Bali also raised fresh allegations but wasn’t asked about the racially motivated comments. The HR manager admitted he didn’t look into the Urdu and Hindi swear word allegations.
The tribunal has scheduled a provisional remedy hearing in the event that the two parties can’t come to a suitable agreement independently.
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