Colleague sacked for being Racist

Soldato
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,856
Location
Nottingham
Hi everyone,

One of my colleagues has recently been sacked for making racist comments towards another of my colleagues. It is not the first time he has made these sort of comments towards him, and he has previously been warned for doing so.

He has come back today to appeal against it today.

All you legal people out there, where does he stand? Not that I'm fussed really, he was an arse anyways ;)

Its been a bit of a roller coaster for him because in one week he got promoted, then sacked. His own fault though, he knew what would happen if he made any more comments.

Cheers
 
Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
41,733
Location
Notts
where does he stand ?

well if it's proven and proper procedures followed then he stands in the queue at the dole office , can't see why he would think otherwise
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,856
Location
Nottingham
Nix said:
What did he say? *


* Edit out explicits.

I'm not sure exactely. It was nothing major, just silly little un-necessary comments.

He has been doing it constantly to my colleague though and my colleague just ignored it until he got fed up of it and complained. That was his first warning which went straight to written warning. Then a couple of weeks ago he made another about his dad, which resulted in being sacked.

The company has evidence he's done it because he admitted it in an e-mail to my colleague apologising.
 
Permabanned
Joined
10 Apr 2004
Posts
13,122
Location
Darlington, County Durham
It's his own fault for being silly enough to say such things in a workplace, where his career can be threatened by his actions.

There's the time and place to vent your feelings, especially about other - work doesn't tend to be the right place. ;)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,856
Location
Nottingham
Rotty said:
where does he stand ?

well if it's proven and proper procedures followed then he stands in the queue at the dole office , can't see why he would think otherwise

Thats what has confused us! We arn't sure what he could possibly have to appeal against. He has brought a solicitor with him too.
 

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
Steameh said:
I'm not sure exactely. It was nothing major, just silly little un-necessary comments.

He has been doing it constantly to my colleague though and my colleague just ignored it until he got fed up of it and complained. That was his first warning which went straight to written warning. Then a couple of weeks ago he made another about his dad, which resulted in being sacked.

The company has evidence he's done it because he admitted it in an e-mail to my colleague apologising.

So he's not said anything out-right racist? Has he been joking about or serious? It sounds atm, what has been said is probably a little friendly teasing and the company is being a little too PC.
 
Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
41,733
Location
Notts
"joking" is not something that will wash these days

his only chance would be to say that the words had legitimate meaning and were not offensive

for example ( difficult to explain without use of words ) P*** is short for Pakistani and could possibly be argued , N***** is a very awkward one as a a lot of younger black people refer to themselves or each other by it but it usually deemed offensive if used by a white person
 
Last edited:

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
This country is too PC and very hypocritical today, and I invite anyone to argue with me on that.
 
Permabanned
Joined
24 Jul 2003
Posts
30,259
I would like to know what he said before I could comment.

Racism often appears to be in the eye of the beholder.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Jun 2005
Posts
1,416
Location
West Midlands
Dont get me wrong Nix, but even a joke will only go so far especially where ethnicity is involved. For someone like me I can take some healthy banter and give just as good as I get, but bring my family into it then its a different situation.

Then again there are two sides to every coin and I dont personally know the accused person or the victim of the accused, so...........
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
10 Jun 2003
Posts
2,856
Location
Nottingham
Nix said:
So he's not said anything out-right racist? Has he been joking about or serious? It sounds atm, what has been said is probably a little friendly teasing and the company is being a little too PC.

Well what he has said is racist. Comments made towards the Indian culture and towards my colleague directly. They arn't outrageous comments but still racist.

Like I say he's been doing it a lot towards my colleague who just had enough after so long so complained. He got a warning for that and then continued to do so. He has admitted to doing it also.

I imagine he thought he was causing no harm and was playing around.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,884
Rotty said:
for example ( difficult to explain without use of words ) P*** is short for Pakistani and could possibly be argued

i dont think so, you never hear pakistanis refering to each other as that, i think its a derogatary term with no justification of use...
 

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
I don't mean to offend, but I do find that ethnic minorities are all too keen to use the "Racism" card when it will advace them in someway. If an ethnic majority complained about something being racist, they'd usually just be ignored. Racism works both ways, but somewhere along the line this has been forgotten.
 
Permabanned
Joined
24 Jul 2003
Posts
30,259
Steameh said:
Well what he has said is racist. Comments made towards the Indian culture and towards my colleague directly. They arn't outrageous comments but still racist.

Like I say he's been doing it a lot towards my colleague who just had enough after so long so complained. He got a warning for that and then continued to do so. He has admitted to doing it also.

I imagine he thought he was causing no harm and was playing around.

Well what exactly did he say? You feel it is racist in your opinion but that doesn't mean anyone else is going to think so.
The colleague sounds like a plum if he had already been warned once and could be sacked for intimidation, bullying etc. Whether it was specifically racism though remains to be seen.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
95,522
Location
I'm back baby!
spirit said:
i dont think so, you never hear pakistanis refering to each other as that, i think its a derogatary term with no justification of use...
Only because of its past use, there's no inherent malice in the actual word.

Semantics, but there's a distinct difference there.
 

Nix

Nix

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
Posts
19,841
Steameh said:
Well what he has said is racist.

[Snip]

I imagine he thought he was causing no harm and was playing around.

Like Virii said - it's in the eye of the beholder.
If he was genuially racist and your colleague put up with it etc, then perhaps what's happened is only fair.
 
Back
Top Bottom