A worker at a Boots pharmacy quit after being accused of saying "I don't speak Taliban" about a customer struggling with her English.
Healthcare assistant Dorothy Roach was allegedly overheard by another customer making "racist comments" about the woman, who was "struggling to make herself understood" at the branch in Market Street, Newton-le-Willows.
The witness, troubled by what she heard, later contacted Boots ' customer care line to report the incident, which occurred on October 13 last year.
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A transcript of the call read: "There was a woman ahead of me in the queue, who didn’t speak very good English.
“One of the pharmacists was trying to ask her name and address and they weren’t having much luck, and another member of staff said to a customer 'I don’t speak Taliban' and then she also carried on to say 'they’re annoying, I’m sick of them'.
“Then she looked at me as l was waiting, she went 'won’t be long love, we’re just having technical issues' and then nodded her head towards the woman who couldn’t speak English.”
Boots asked the manager of a different store, Danny Hird, to conduct an investigation into the incident which included taking witness statements from colleagues and checking CCTV - although the footage did not include audio recordings.
Ms Roach, who had worked for Boots for 14 years, attended an investigatory meeting with Mr Hird on October 21 where she strenuously denied making racist comments.
She attended a second interview the following day where she was told a colleague, which a tribunal later heard was branch pharmacist Caroline Tinkler, confirmed she had heard Ms Roach make the 'Taliban' comment.
Mr Hird said that as there was corroborating evidence for the complaint he would need to begin a disciplinary process.
However Ms Roach resigned on the spot, claiming her health meant she could not be disciplined, but also telling Mr Hird she was "not going to be the scapegoat for someone else".
She later took Boots to an Employment Tribunal, claiming constructive dismissal.
But the tribunal, led by Employment Judge Liz Ord, dismissed her claim after a one day hearing in Liverpool, noting that Boots were well within their rights to launch an investigation.
Judge Ord noted a "serious complaint of racism" had been made and that no explanation had been put forward as to why the customer would not be truthful.
She wrote: "In the absence of any convincing explanation as to why the customer and Ms Tinkler might have been mistaken, Mr Hird on behalf of the respondent (Boots), was entitled to conclude that it was necessary to undertake a disciplinary process.
"Consequently, Mr Hird acted with reasonable and proper cause. Although the claimant believed that she had already in effect been found guilty at the investigatory stage, there was no justification for this.
"Mr Hird had sought to reassure her that undertaking a disciplinary process did not mean she was guilty, but that more investigation was needed....
"The reason for the claimant’s resignation was the decision to instigate a disciplinary process. The respondent’s investigation provided a reasonable basis upon which to make that decision, and the respondent proceeded in this way with reasonable and proper cause.
"It did not breach the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and there was no repudiatory breach entitling the claimant to resign.
"Consequently, the claimant was not constructively dismissed and her claim for unfair dismissal is not well-founded."
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