EAT Race Discrimination
Racial harassment (s3A). Effect of House of Lords Judgment in Pearce v The Governing Body of Mayfield School re. Burton v de Vere Hotels Ltd on s3A claim. Employment Tribunal strike-out. Need for fact-finding. Appeal allowed.
The Tribunal had struck out a claim brought under section 3A of the Race Relations Act. The Claimant’s case was that her employer had a policy to ignore racist comments from customers at the housing department where she worked, and that she was prevented by that policy from telling customers that any such remarks were simply unacceptable, a consequence being that she had to listen patiently to racist comments. The Claimant also complained that she had received a text from a work colleague to her private mobile telephone which conveyed a racist joke and that further racist jokes had been sent to her similarly some three weeks afterwards, and that when she complained about them her employer took no action.
HHJ Peter Clark concluded that, because he was considering an application to strike-out the claim as unarguable, he had to ask whether there might be a reasonable argument that, on these facts, the employer might be found liable for a claim of harassment contrary to section 3A. He commented that there had been no decided case on the point (see paragraph 14). He did not himself resolve that issue of law, nor purport to do so; he merely held that it was arguable. He dealt with the text messages separately. The result was that he directed that the Tribunal should continue to hear those allegations.
HHJ Peter Clark
[2007] UKEAT 0587 – 06 – 0203, UKEAT/0587/06
Bailii, EAT
Race Relations Act 1976 3A
England and Wales
Cited by:
See also – Gravell v London Borough of Bexley EAT 24-Sep-2007
EAT Race Discrimination
Tribunal Chairman in error in striking out part of a victimisation claim relating to comparison of treatment with another female employee when allowing similar allegations to be . .
Cited – Conteh v Parking Partners Ltd EAT 17-Dec-2010
EAT HARASSMENT – Conduct
Where an employee worked in an environment in which her dignity was violated, or which became intimidatory, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive as a result of actions of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.251583