By Eric King-
A woman from Bradford has won an employment tribunal against her manager for racial harassment.
The victory is said to be unprecedented and will raise questions about the benchmark used to determine the boundary for racial harassment . The racial allegation in this case had to do with comments made by a colleague which made no reference to the heritage of the complainant, but was judged to have insinuated through the choice of words used by the alleged offender.
Sandeep Kaur, 38, of East Bowling, was one of two claimants in a case, at Leeds Employment Tribunal Court involving two respondents – her employer, Capita, which was cleared of any liability, and another employee, Mr John Woodhouse, against whom the complaint succeeded.
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The ‘fact’ section of the ‘written reasons’ document for the judgement states: “The Claimants, both of Asian ethnicity, complain of racial harassment arising out of an alleged comment made by their Operations Team Manager, Mr John Woodhouse.”
The incident in question happened on January 16 this year, at around 10:45pm. Both claimants stated: “Shortly before the end of their shift, Mr Woodhouse had been walking past their bank of desks.
“He is said to have looked at a white colleague and stated: ‘Has Mattar been dipped and had his head shaved?’
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“The white colleague was occupying a seat usually occupied by a black colleague, Mattar.
“Mr Woodhouse denies making that comment on that day or at any other time.” Capita was cleared of any liability, as the company was able to prove “it took all reasonable steps to prevent” the act and therefore was not liable for it and any damages. The precise interpretation of the words used have not been stated, but it was construed to be derogatory.
The Eye Of Media.Com has asked for an intelligible breakdown of how the ruling was arrived at, for the purposes of research and observance of precedence.
A Capita spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the tribunal’s judgement that Capita was not liable and that we take all reasonable steps to avoid this type of behaviour, which clearly falls below the standards we expect.”
The complaint of racial harassment against Mr Woodhouse was judged to be “well founded and succeeded.” Describing her experience in the aftermath of the comment.
She said: “It created a hostile environment and it was very stressful at that time.
“Especially knowing we were still working in the same area as him.”
The 38-year-old admitted she’d have been lost without the support of her union, Equality for Workers Union (EFWU), who helped her and the other employee fight the case.
She said: “I’m really happy with the outcome. It just shows that justice is served. A
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