A Wetherspoons worker has been sacked for calling a transgender colleague a 'thing'.
Andrew Rush called a male colleague named Ollie, 'she' and upon realising he had made a mistake tried to correct himself by saying 'he, her, thing, whatever it is'.
He also referred to a woman as 'the black one' as well as other racist and sexist language, an employment tribunal heard.
An hearing in Bury St Edmunds was told that at the time Mr Rush was working as a kitchen assistant at the Standard Bearer pub in Stevenage, Herts.
The tribunal heard that in January 2020 the pub manager, Keyne Sutherland, received a complaint about Mr Rush using racist, and transphobic language.
The kitchen manager, Sophie Quinlin posted in the managers WhatsApp group explaining what had happened.
She said: "Andrew asked [another colleague] if he knew why Ollie was back and accidentally said 'she' and then he was like 'oh ffs, he, her, thing what ever it is. Why is thing back'."
Ms Quinlin said she was worried that staff members were making fun of Ollie, who is a trans man, and they had joked that another female staff member fancied him.
The tribunal heard that Ollie believed his colleagues and had been messaging the woman, Ariana Kadira, asking if she wanted to meet up for a drink.
At the time, Mr Rush had actually been in a relationship with Miss Kadira but Ms Sutherland was told that he regularly used racist, sexist language towards her in front of other staff.
When asked, Miss Kadira said he often called her 'the black one' and that once after a night out he had begun calling her a 'slut and a horrible person' because he thought she had given her phone number to someone else.
The tribunal heard that he also discussed their sex life in 'graphic detail' in front of others despite Miss Kadira repeatedly telling him to stop.
She said that Mr Rush had a habit of apologising profusely but not 'actually changing his behaviour'.
When confronted with the allegations by his employers Mr Rush tried to claim he was suffering from 'concussion and PTSD' at the time of the incidents.
He said he had been drinking to cope with his mental health problems but that only made his symptoms worse and he often 'didn't really understand what he had said until he said it'.
He was sacked for gross misconduct but subsequently launched a claim alleging unfair dismissal.
The tribunal heard that while the transphobic remarks were found to have been made, they were not included in the initial disciplinary allegations.
However, a senior Wetherspoons manager later concluded that the comments should have been part of the hearing.
Employment Judge Jean Laidler concluded: "Mr Rush had disclosed his mental health issues to [Wetherspoons] but they were entitled to concluded that they did not excuse the comments made and words used...
"Dismissal was clearly in the band when [Wetherspoons] was satisfied that [he] had used inappropriate racial terms and graphic sexual references to a work colleague."
