When a Joke becomes a Jeer - 21/06/2011

Discrimination claims across the board are steadily rising. There are thousands of cases reaching the employment tribunal each year and whilst the highest average compensation award is £52,087 - disability; race; sexual orientation and sex discrimination cases have all seen steep six figure awards. The largest disability award was awarded to the News of the World sports writer Matt Driscoll who was subject to bullying and subsequently suffered from stress related depression who received £729,347.

Discrimination in the workplace should be one of the easiest employment issues for managers to control. It can often take the form of so called "banter" which the perpetrators claim is said in jest but with strict transparent guidelines as to unacceptable behaviour and zero tolerance to any employees who breach them should offer managers a straightforward and uncomplicated process when dealing with suspected discrimination.

The difficulty is that often it is the manager's abuse that causes the problem. Inadequate training and slack monitoring of senior staff can create a situation that can impact badly on the business, but when the owner is the problem the business may be doomed. In the case of two hotel workers, Andrew Roberts-Evans and Martin Owen, a manager and chef respectively, at the Grapes Hotel Maentwrog in Snowdonia were obliged to share a twin bedded room due to lack of separate staff quarters. Hotel owner Simon Buckley regularly taunted the two straight men quipping that they were a gay couple which both men found offensive and humiliating. Mr. Owen was made redundant and a replacement appointed almost immediately and Mr. Roberts-Evans resigned when he saw his job advertised in a trade magazine. The tribunal found that the two men had been wrongly dismissed addition to being subjected to sexual discrimination and awarded £33,165 to Mr. Roberts-Evans and £23,384 to Mr. Owen; however there is little chance of receiving their compensation as the company has gone into voluntary liquidation.

TMA Legal Comments:

Employers must invest in comprehensive training both themselves and their managers in order to prevent a completely avoidable financial and reputational body blow. Simon Buckley appeared to have no understanding of the current employment law or the risk he placed his business under. The cost of an HR retainer package including the safety net of a training programme is more than off-set by keeping the business protected from the bombshell of a tribunal case born of staff ignorance.

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