'Don't joke about chaining black staff to desk', judge rules, as woman wins £18k following 'intrinsically racist' comment
20 December 2022, 06:27
A judge has ruled that joking about chaining black employees to their desks is "intrinsically racist", as she awarded a woman a five-figure payout.
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The decision came in a case about a cleaning company in Manchester, where boss Teresa McArdle had made the comment to administrator Adele Waring because she often left her work station.
Ms Waring, who is of Afro-Caribbean descent, sued the company, Tudor Contract Cleaners, over the comment and other incidents that she claimed constituted racial harassment.
Judge Pauline Feeney ruled at the tribunal hearing that the comment "was intrinsically racist to someone of African-Caribbean heritage", in a ruling that does not carry legal precedent.
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The claim failed on a technicality as Ms Waring said the remark was victimisation, rather than harassment.
But she won £18,000 after the panel ruled in her favour on another workplace issue.
Ms Waring started work at Tudor Contract Cleaners in 2017, beginning as a cleaner but later becoming a part-time administrator.
The hearing heard how Ms McArdle told Ms Waring that “she needed to chain her to her desk” because she “was always disappearing”.
Four receptionists left the company and Waring was asked to cover some of their responsibilities. But the work atmosphere became "toxic" as two of the administrators would only speak Polish to one another, while another would often leave his desk.
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Ms McArdle denied using the word "chain" when speaking to Ms Waring, telling the tribunal she said "tag" instead - but the panel found Ms Waring's version more plausible.
Ms Waring resigned, saying she had been racially discriminated against, including a claim that a colleague told her that black people cannot drive well.
The tribunal decided that she had been racially harassed and discriminated against by her bosses because they did not understand why she was offended by the "blacks can't drive" comment.
Ms Waring's other claims were dismissed.
