Worker wins £22k after being called an ‘old white man’

A worker who claimed that comments made by a colleague lead to him being signed off work with depression has been successful in a claim for race and age discrimination.

Mr Barry Moore, 55, was awarded compensation totalling over £22,000.00 in the Leeds Employment Tribunal after he was subjected to harassment and abuse by Mr Desmond Owusu on multiple occasions.

Moore’s role as a tyre-grader involved working closely together in a small group. As the claim concerned race discrimination, the Tribunal thought it important to note the ethnic makeup of the team. Owusu and two other of the workers were of Ghanaian descent and they all shared a different language. The other two workers, including Moore, were both white. It could therefore be deduced that Moore was thought of as an outsider.

This meant that, should the group ever have a falling out, Moore would be in no position to ‘intimidate’ Owusu, whereas Owusu would have the ability to look to some colleagues for support if need be.

The company relied on the defence of ‘banter’: Owusu would use bad language and derogatory terms with Moore but, equally, Moore would do the same back. The Tribunal did not accept this and stated that it seemed more plausible that Moore would be on the receiving end of the abuse more often than not. These insults included swearing and derogatory terms based on age, race and sexual orientation (“gay white man”, “old white man” etc.).

Eventually, Moore felt he had no choice but to resign from his role. In his letter he stated, that:

“I have spoken to you on many occasions and you yourself have always reassured me you will deal with the matter but unfortunately it never was resolved. This situation has also affected my mental health and gave me no choice but to seek medical help. This resignation is my only option…I have told you about in previous emails and conversations bullying and intimidating me and discrimination against me”

It is incredibly important that, when looking to claim for Constructive Dismissal, an employee details in their resignation letter that them leaving is as a direct result of the breach as Moore did.

The conclusion made by the Tribunal was that the harassment was related to race and age since this was expressly stated and that, since this was unlawful harassment, Moore was entitled to resign in response to it. Hence the resignation was a constructive dismissal and an act of direct discrimination on grounds of age and race – “an old white man”.

The tribunal also dealt with the comments about Moore being gay. While Moore is not in fact homosexual, this is not an essential fact in order to prove harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation. In this particular case, it was found that it was just the “odd remark” and was not one of the main concerns unlike age and race which were the main protected characteristics that ultimately separated Moore and Owusu.

The judge ordered the company to pay Moore a total of £22,027.21 in compensation, including awards for unfair dismissal, discrimination and interest. The full judgement can be read here.

Further reading

Workplace Discrimination – Oakwood Solicitors

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