Golliwog – a Word That Cost an Employer £27,000.
Could This be You? by Kate Foreman
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This month, Amanda Miles, owner of a fruit and vegetable
wholesaler in Gloucester, failed to prevent racist nicknames
being used in relation to a black worker which has resulted
in an Employment Tribunal awarding the worker £27,000
in compensation. He is unlikely to receive the full payment
because the business has gone into liquidation – and I
imagine the legal bill for defending this one was probably
relevant. How any sane solicitor could have thought that
defending this action was ever going to be successful is a
mystery to me and should be a tale of caution to employers
and employees alike that not all cases should be pursued,
unless you’re feeling particularly flush.
Delivery driver Roy Morgan became upset after his
colleague was given a series of racist nicknames. Brian
Ennis, was referred to as ‘golliwog Brian’ and ‘black Brian’ to
distinguish him from a white colleague of the same name,
according to his employers. He did not bring action, but Mr
Morgan claimed that he could no longer work within a firm
that had such an embedded racist culture and sued them
for constructive dismissal.
nearly 30 employees and an annual turnover as high as
£4.2 million.
Ms Miles knew about the racist nicknames
distinguishing Brian Ennis from his white colleague
Brian Sutton, and the 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.
During the employment tribunal hearing it was stated
that company owner Amanda Miles, 40, failed to stop the
nicknames because she did not see anything wrong with
them.
It was also claimed that Ms Miles was “entirely unreceptive”
to the idea that the nicknames might offend black staff.
A panel at Bristol Employment Tribunal ruled that Mr
Morgan having to listen to the racist nicknames being used
had “violated his dignity”.
During the hearing Mr Morgan also claimed a colleague had
told him 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”.
The tribunal awarded Mr Morgan over £27,000 in
compensation for racial harassment and constructive
dismissal.
Following the decision Ms Miles defiantly branded the
judgment “absolutely ridiculous”, clearly demonstrating her
breath-taking disregard both for the law and for treating
employees with any dignity and respect whatsoever. She
then went on to say “The tribunal was the most dodgy,
pathetic process I have ever come across in my life.”
Mr Morgan joined the Gloucester-based firm run by
Ms Miles and her partner, in September 2007. It had
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. 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.”
Importantly, the panel added that, “She had had no
training in the principles of equal opportunity and
appeared to have an entirely closed mind to what
cont....p7