A BRITISH employment tribunal has ruled that imitating an Indian accent, even as a “private joke,” constitutes racial harassment.
The case involved Hossein Khansari, a British-Iranian sales manager at Platipus Anchors, who was awarded £8,083.32 in damages, reported The Telegraph.
Khansari, the only Asian employee in the office, complained that his colleagues, Alan Richardson and Jeffery Curnick, repeatedly mimicked Indian accents.
The tribunal in Croydon heard that the two men claimed their actions were not meant to be offensive and were influenced by their multicultural upbringing in South Africa.
Other colleagues stated that accents, including German and French, were sometimes imitated but were not intended to be derogatory.
Employment judge Colm O’Rourke ruled that while the two men did not intend to harass Khansari, their actions had a "harassing effect" on him. The judge noted that it was not for them to decide whether their behaviour was offensive.
Khansari was dismissed from the company in January 2022 after failing to submit written documents for a disciplinary hearing regarding an “inaccurate” presentation.
The tribunal found that his dismissal was procedurally unfair but stated that he would have been dismissed regardless due to poor sales performance and attitude.
