Race discrimination lessons inspired by Jess Carter
Sadly, race discrimination is very much a topic, even a quarter of the way through the 21st century.
In case you didn’t know, Jess Carter is one of the England football squad (The Lionesses) currently competing in the European Championship. Since the start of the tournament, she’s been experiencing a lot of racial abuse on social media. To protect herself, she is stepping back from social media. Also, to show solidarity, her team-mates did not ‘take the knee’ before their semi-final match on 22 July against Italy.
Taking the knee is intended to protest systemic racism and police brutality towards black people. It became common in football after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in the US.
The team decided that the gesture is not effective since the message clearly isn’t getting through, and their decision is supported by the Football Association (FA). The FA also said it was “working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice”.
Racism in women’s football is not new. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Lauren James suffered similar abuse when she was sent off, and again following a defeat by Arsenal in December 2023.
Racism is also ongoing in the workplace – where you are protected by the Equality Act 2010. This article includes some recent race discrimination cases.
Case study 1
In 2007, Mr Assan began working for Wilson James Security, at Cavendish Square, London. In 2010, he was transferred by TUPE to Vigilant Security, where he was soon promoted to site controller, and then to security manager in 2018.
He is of black African descent. Most of Vigilant’s security guards came from ethnic minority groups, while the managers were almost exclusively white.
Mr Assan experienced continuous bullying and racism at work. For example:
- In 2011, a white chief engineer referred to Mr Assan as his “slave”
- The same year, a colleague made a Nazi salute while shouting “Heil Hitler”
- In 2012, Mr Assan was asked where he had learned his English
- In 2015, some Eastern European visitors were referred to as “stupid foreigners”
- In 2016 Mr Assan’s application for promotion was ignored
- In January 2022, he was called into a disciplinary investigation meeting without warning, sent a list of allegations of gross misconduct, and suspended
In April 2022, Mr Assan resigned. He went to the Employment Tribunal alleging 63 incidents of direct race discrimination, race-related harassment, and discrimination arising from disability and victimisation.
Most of his claims failed as the race-based incidents didn’t amount to harassment, or didn’t rest on conduct “related to” race, or were presented out of time.
However, the tribunal determined that the treatment which caused Mr Assan to resign amounted to a series of acts of victimisation and unfair dismissal, and he was awarded £360,700.
This amount is made up of past and future losses, injury to feeling, personal injury, a basic unfair dismissal award, interest, a 17.5% Acas uplift and grossing up for tax.
Case study 2
Professor Tanweer Ahmed worked at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust for 16 years, where he was director of Lincolnshire Clinical Research Facility. He also chaired the black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff network.
A member of his team resigned in 2018, and subsequently made allegations of bullying and harassment against him.
In 2019, deputy chief nurse, Jennie Negus, conducted an investigation into the complaint. However, she only interviewed people who supported the allegations. Some of these had even left the department before the accusations surfaced.
She produced a report that recommended a development plan, nevertheless, The Trust’s HR director, Martin Rayson, escalated the findings to a hearing, saying he expected that: “Tanweer will play the race card.”
After this, Professor Ahmed was dismissed for gross misconduct.
He went to the Employment Tribunal claiming that the allegations were a “malicious retaliation”.
In spring 2022, his claims for direct race discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal succeeded, while his claim for harassment failed.
The tribunal judge ruled that the Trust had not presented any logical reason why Professor Ahmed was fired, the disciplinary procedure was mishandled at almost every stage, and that the decision was “entirely biased” in that race had something to do with his dismissal.
Judge Victoria Butler at the East Midlands tribunal awarded him £256,032, comprising a basic award of £11,288, a loss of statutory rights £500, loss of salary £163,834 and loss of pension £80,410.
Case study 3
Three vacancies for leadership positions were advertised at London and Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q).
Natalie James and Joanna Saine were among six staff members who applied, of which three were white and three were black or mixed race.
Two of the white candidates were successful, and L&Q decided to re-advertise the third vacancy externally. The hiring manager claimed the three black candidates were not “not appointable” and they wouldn’t “fit in”.
Natalie and Joanna each made a claim of race discrimination. The Employment Tribunal found that:
- The hiring manager failed to record all the information provided by Natalie and Joanna during their interviews
- Rather than objectively considering the qualifications and suitability of all applicants, the hiring manager made a decision based on a subjective view
- The HR Recruitment Advisor deferred to the hiring manager
Natalie received a financial settlement of £64,000 while Joanna received just under £31,000.
What this means to you
Hiring and firing decisions must not be based on subjective views or gut feelings, as this increases the risk of stereotypes and unconscious bias.
If you’re applying for a job or promotion, the interview process must be fair. Equally, if you go through a disciplinary procedure or lose your job, the dismissal process must be fair.
If you’ve been mistreated at work because of your race, give us a call.
We are employment lawyers who act for employees, not employers, anywhere in the UK. We have years of experience in race discrimination cases, which means you’ll get friendly, expert support every step of the way.
Related reading
For more on this subject, you might like to see our related posts, which include:
- I have suffered race discrimination
- I’m paid less because of my race
- Race discrimination at work
- Race discrimination: Has it happened to you?
- When does race discrimination occur?
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