White man told not to cook Indian recipes because of his race wins discrimination claim
A white man has won a racial discrimination case against an Indian food manufacturer after he was told he couldn't cook the cuisine because he was English.
An Employment Tribunal was told supervisor Azeem Akhtar of Mumtaz Foods in Bradford wanted employee Colin Sorby removed from the predominantly Asian company because he "didn't fit in".
As a result, Mr Sorby, who was only employed at the organisation for five months, sued the company for racial discrimination and could receive thousands of pounds in compensation.
In addition, Mr Sorby has also claimed he was victimised after lodging the racial discrimination complaint against Mr Akhtar.
The Tribunal heard that Akhtar, who is British Asian, told Mr Sorby that “this was an Asian company and he should go and work for an English company.”
Employment Judge Timothy Smith said:
"The comment had the purpose [or] the effect of violating Mr Sorby's dignity or creating an offensive environment as he had been told that because of his race, and not because of any issues to do with his performance, he should no longer work for [the company]."
After raising a complaint of racial discrimination, Mr Sorby was told he had been placed 'on call', which the Tribunal concluded was effective dismissal, as he was also asked to clear his locker and hand in company property.
He was initially told that this was because of his poor attendance and performance, but the only explanation he received was that "he was English and not Asian and therefore didn’t know the cuisine and didn’t know how to cook food properly".
Judge Smith commented:
“This was a stereotypical assumption that was not predicated on any factual basis. The reason he was put on call was because, in the tribunal's judgement, firstly Mr Akhtar objected to Mr Sorby raising an allegation of racial harassment against him and secondly Mr Akhtar wanted him removed from employment as he considered he did not fit in as he was not Asian."
The Tribunal decided that Mr Sorby was racially harassed and then victimised for making a complaint about the discrimination. A further hearing will be held to decide how much compensation he should be awarded.
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