A black security manager who was called a “slave” by a white colleague and later left after raising race complaints has won £361,000, an employment tribunal heard.
Richard Assan resigned from Vigilant Security, which is run by ex-military personnel, in April 2022 after 15 years working there, claiming that he was victimised.
The firm has a “striking imbalance” between racial profiles as a large number of guards and team leaders are from ethnic minority groups while the managers are mainly white, the tribunal in London heard.
The tribunal accepted that “race-based incidents” had occurred and found Mr Assan’s claims of victimisation and unfair (constructive) dismissal proven.
One of Mr Assan’s many claims was that, in June 2011, Bill Cowle, a white chief engineer, referred to him as being his “slave” in what was “apparently intended to be humorous”, the tribunal heard.
Judge Anthony Snelson found this “clearly” caused Mr Assan detriment and involved “evidently race-based conduct”.
In July 2012, Guy Rampe, a manager, asked Mr Assan a “thoughtless” question about where he had learned his English, which the claimant saw as “offensive”, the tribunal heard.
The judge wrote: “Here the detrimental treatment which we have found plainly was ‘because of’ (ie materially influenced by) the claimant’s race.
“It is possible that Mr Rampe would have addressed an equally insensitive question to an imaginary comparator of the claimant’s (say a white Caucasian born and brought up in Eastern Europe) but we have no evidence to make good that theory.
“In our judgment his overtly race-based treatment of the claimant is more than sufficient to shift the burden to the respondent to disprove discrimination. That burden is not discharged.”
The tribunal heard that Mr Assan applied for a promotion in April 2016 but his application was “not acknowledged”.
The judge said: “The gross racial imbalance within the managerial cohort lends support to the claimant’s perception of a culture in which it is an accepted norm that visible ethnic minority staff populate the lower orders of the organisation and management is confined to white men.
“In our view, the claimant has done enough to transfer the burden of proof to the respondent. That being so, our finding is inevitable.
“For want of any evidence to disprove discrimination, we find that the claimant’s race was, at the very least, a material factor in the failure to engage with and process his promotion application.”
Mr Assan resigned on April 6 2022, making a case that he was the victim of “continuous bullying and racism dating back to 2011”, the tribunal heard.
Judge Snelson said: “We have no doubt that he regarded his race as a central reason for his constructive dismissal. Our objective assessment, however, is otherwise.
“There were certainly race-based incidents at several points in the long story.
“But our focus must be upon the dismissal and what precipitated the resignation through which it was effected… we are satisfied to a high standard that the treatment which caused the claimant to resign amounted to a series of acts of victimisation.
“We find that the discriminatory treatment which we have identified had occurred sporadically between about 2011 and 2016 and was part of the background but did not form a material part of his decision to resign in April 2022.”
However, the tribunal did find that Mr Assan had an “acute sensitivity to criticism” and a mindset which “treats any critical comment as unfair”.
The £361,000 figure also includes injury to feelings and personal injury.
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