British Asian salesman at Porsche dealership wins unfair dismissal claim

A Porsche salesman who was subjected to racist abuse at workplace and later sacked has won an unfair dismissal case, MailOnline has reported.

Shailesh Rathod, 49, was the only non-white salesman at the male-dominated dealership in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands.

At the dealership, Rathod, a British Asian became target of racist jokes and was called 'chapati' and 'poppadom' by his colleagues.

There was an incident when Rathod had brought McDonald's for the sales team on his off day at work, where his son was also with him. It happened that one of his co-worker threw a banana on the floor by his son's side and said "I want to see how he reacts" before "laughing intensely".

Rathod said he had "no choice" but to "go along" at the workplace because he was an "outsider "trying to integrate". He added because he had no choice as he had to keep the job.

After a point the toxic work culture started to affect his mental and physical health. He raised a grievance to his bosses and particularly complained of a particular colleague, Oliver.

But instead Rathod was sacked on charges of race and sex harassment towards the white colleague - for sending racially offensive and misogynistic memes and jokes on WhatsApp.

His colleague Oliver, referred to as 'O' throughout the tribunal before he could face a disciplinary process but shared the screenshots of their WhatsApp chat in which they shared the memes.

Rathod has now won after successfully suing the Pendragon Sabre Ltd - which owns the Porsche garage - for unfair dismissal after a judge ruled bosses ignored the wider office culture and that he was racially harassed and was just trying to fit in.

At Nottingham Employment Tribunal Centre, Judge Clark criticised the environment at Porsche Sutton Coldfield.

Judge Clark said: "All the sales staff were male. There are female employees in other roles.

"I find the culture was "laddish", crude and immature and this manifested in the day-to-day interactions in the workplace on the sales floor.

"Topics of conversation included graphic and crude sexual references; sometimes generic, sometimes focused on a particular female and sometimes even young females attending the dealership with their family.

"This particular laddish culture developed a more sinister level as it was infected by the overt prejudices, opinions and attitudes of some of its members.

"I find their comments and contributions were neither inadvertent nor simply misguided. They amounted to deliberate and aggressive expressions of misogyny, hostility towards homosexuality, and racism.

"I find this influenced the way the team interacted, and the peer pressure meant it became the norm.

"One of the sales executives openly shared racist views, including his own rejection of a family member who had invited a black friend home."

On the basis of screenshots produced by 'O', Rathod faced a disciplinary hearing by his dismissing officer, named Mason, who sacked him for racial and sex harassment towards 'O'.

Mason claimed one of Rathod's messages - in which he says he is having 'chapati and poppadom' for lunch - was as severe as the banana incident because 'you cannot league racism'.

Mason said: "Personally I honestly believe this is banter that has got out of hand for whatever reason.

"Banter is okay until it's not okay... Referring back to our dignity at work policy you have contravened several points in here, factually, when it comes to harassment of a sexual and racial nature.

"As a company we have zero tolerance towards it. My view and my conclusion is I have no alternative to dismiss you from the business today."

Responding to it, judge Clark said there was no evidence 'O' was offended by Rathod's messages and that the wider office culture wasn't considered to be investigated.

"The messages are a product of the culture he came into and which has been allowed to normalise without censure by the employer's lower management," the judge said.

After winning his claim for unfair dismissal, Rathod's compensation will be determined in a later hearing.

A spokesperson for Pendragon UK commented: "We were appalled by Mr Rathod’s allegations in mid-2020 and immediately set about investigating when we became aware of the situation. The examination resulted in the dismissal and/or resignation of those involved and we continue to reinforce our policies and the ongoing training to help our team.

"Our leadership team has introduced extensive training to create a more inclusive and accepting culture. We strive to be a company where all people are welcome and should feel comfortable working, shopping and raising their concerns if they feel that the expectation we’ve created doesn’t live up to that standard."