Racial discrimination victory

Picture: Terry McKenzie

An engineering contract worker who was sacked after suffering racial discrimination while on a placement has won compensation.

An employment tribunal ruled that Terry McKenzie, who was represented by MWR Solicitors, suffered discrimination when he was dismissed by Rullion Engineering Personnel Ltd after a dispute while he was working on a placement at Alstom Engineering.

The tribunal also ruled that Mr McKenzie, who is of Afro-Caribbean origin, was further discriminated against when Rullion failed to investigate his formal complaint relating to racial mistreatment while on the same placement.

Mr McKenzie, 40, of Preston, told the tribunal he was treated less fairly than other staff at Alstom when he was asked to do jobs that no one else wanted to do, such as cleaning up. In another incident, Mr McKenzie said he was accused of being a drug dealer because he had bought a new car. The tribunal ruled that this was discriminatory because it stereotyped Mr McKenzie’s racial origin.

In a third incident, two workers at Alstom who had been disciplined by management for using Facebook at work wrongly blamed Mr McKenzie for getting them into trouble. Even though McKenzie knew nothing about the Facebook incident, one of the two workers urged the other to smash Mr McKenzie’s windscreen.

The tribunal was told that Mr McKenzie wrote to Rullion management setting out his concerns, but nothing was done.

Two months later, on April 22, 2009, Mr McKenzie alleged that he was spoken to disrespectfully and condescendingly by another worker at Alstom. Mr McKenzie asked the other worker not to do this and the following day he was dismissed by Rullion.

Mr McKenzie again wrote formally to Rullion’s management, but his concerns were not investigated, the tribunal heard.

Sadiq Vohra, a solicitor with Preston-based MWR Solicitors, who represented Mr McKenzie, said: “In this case the employer failed to act on Mr McKenzie’s written concerns that he was the victim of racial discrimination while on placement at another company.

“As well as emphasising to businesses that they must work within the law, this case should also serve to remind employees that they are protected by law and should not be discouraged from seeking legal advice if they believe they have been discriminated against.”

Mr McKenzie’s hearing took place in Manchester on February 12, 2010 and the judgment was issued on May 26, 2010. The level of compensation will be decided at a further hearing.