A former employee of a Ripon car parts company has had his claim of unfair dismissal rejected by a tribunal.
Alliance Automotive‘s Ripon branch — which trades as Ripon Auto Spares — faced the accusation, along with one of breach of contract, from C Seaman, who was dismissed as a driver on May 4 last year.
It followed an incident on April 21, 2021, when he was alleged to have used an offensive racial term in the presence of a black colleague.
The Ripon branch manager investigated the accusation and suspended Mr Seaman on full pay the following day, under the instruction of area manager Roger Bailey.
The report from Leeds Employment Tribunal said:
“Mr Bailey conducted a disciplinary hearing on May 4, 2021, in which the claimant confirmed he used the word ‘n*****’, maintaining that its use was appropriate, because he said it related to a conversation with colleagues about an incident involving a black person in America.
“The claimant said he did not understand how anybody could be offended by the use of that word.”
Finding the conduct to amount to racial harassment, and that Mr Seaman showed no remorse, Mr Bailey dismissed him.
After an unsuccessful appeal through the company, Mr Seaman took Alliance Automotive to an employment tribunal, which was held in Leeds on April 12 and 13 this year. However, it has also rejected his claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract.
Leeds Employment Tribunal, in City Exchange
In his report, published this week, Judge Jeremy Shulman said:
“During the disciplinary process the claimant sought to encourage the respondent [Alliance Automotive] to view a programme known as The Wire for justification of his use of the word ‘n*****’.
“The respondent decided the use of the word ‘n*****’ itself was sufficiently offensive, regardless of The Wire and we find that that programme was discussed during the disciplinary process. The programme apparently relates to the location of Baltimore on the subject of drug trafficking and policing.
“Very late in the proceedings the claimant produced a mitigation document. That contained 15 names, including the name of the Prime Minister, and the document contained no explanation whatsoever as to what it was and the claimant subsequently described it as irrelevant.”
The judge said Mr Seaman had received a code of conduct from his employer and had received training on it, including information about equality and diversity.
However, he said he had not read the information given to him because it was “not relevant”.
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The tribunal heard Mr Seaman had repeated the offensive term, but had claimed it was “just a black person” and that the term was widely used in films and by the black community. He said “race discrimination never even existed and everybody was treated equally” in his world.
Mr Shulman rejected the claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract, and found Mr Seaman had been dismissed because of his conduct. He added:
“It was clear to me during the hearing that this was conduct the nature of which the claimant did not understand when everybody around him clearly did.
“He had some source materials which he never bothered to read and sought to justify his conduct by reference to names on a sheet of paper and an American television programme. None of this did anything to make an already serious position better.”
The judge ordered that the £300 deposit paid by Mr Seaman for the tribunal, in recognition of his low chances of success, be paid to his former employer.
