Mr Morgan complained he could no longer work within the racist culture at the wholesaler where one of his colleagues, Brian Ennis, was referred to as “golliwog Brian” and ”black Brian”. His boss, Amanda Miles, claimed these names were used to distinguish him from a white colleague of the same name. Unsurprisingly the Employment Tribunal was unimpressed by this explanation.
The Tribunal had also heard that a colleague had also told Mr Morgan to “stop speaking that jungle talk”, while another delivery driver was not disciplined when he remarked that “black people should be burnt at the stake like the Jews.”
In delivering its decision against the employer, the Tribunal panel concluded:
“The claimant worked for an employer that tolerated not only racial banter in the workplace but also the expression of extreme forms of racial prejudice. The claimant found this comment to be offensive and was concerned that no steps appeared to be taken to address it. This was known about by Ms Miles. It did not occur to her to take any steps to curb this practice as it did not occur to her that there could be anything wrong with it. Ms Miles was entirely unreceptive to the notion that calling someone by the colour of their skin could cause offence. She had given no thought to finding another way of distinguishing the two Brians that did not involve labelling one of them by the colour of their skin. She had had no training in the principles of equal opportunity and appeared to have an entirely closed mind to what those principles might entail. At the very least we would have expected Ms Miles to have taken some steps to ensure this was not causing offence to Mr Ennis. The idea simply never occurred to her. Ms Miles was an employer who thought it entirely acceptable to distinguish one employee from another by referring to the colour of the skin of the black employee. That Ms Miles had no index of concern about this practice satisfied us further that there was a culture of racism that was tolerated in the workplace.”
Speaking after the judgment, Ms Miles described the decision as “absolutely ridiculous”. She said, “The tribunal was the most dodgy, pathetic process I have ever come across in my life.”
However, unfortunately for Mr Morgan, despite the decision, he is unlikely to receive the £27,000 he has been awarded by the Tribunal as the company is now in administration.