Tribunal awards £34k for racial discriminati

An employment tribunal has awarded £34,000 in damages to a technician in Essex who suffered eight years of racial discrimination.

Pauline Taylor, who worked for electronic firm Benham General Engineering, claimed that she was bullied and racially taunted by co-workers from the time she joined the company in 1999.

Ms Taylor, 61, told the tribunal that she was called racist names, colleagues openly discussed the policies of the British National Party and party literature was left at her workstation.

The mixed-race technician was the only member of staff from an ethnic minority and alleged that she was told to work an unheated area and had a heater that she brought in confiscated because of her appearance.

Benham General Engineering in Maldon, Essex, has now been ordered to pay Ms Taylor almost £34,000 in compensations and must consult with the Commission for Racial Equality to set up diversity training for workers.

Bosses at the firm were slapped with an extra £5,000 penalty after they claimed that Ms Taylor tried to make herself appear "more black" when she appeared before the tribunal and the tribunal ruled that the company needed "root and branch reform".

The case was supported by Ucatt and union boss Alan Ritchie stated: "This shocking case underlines the fact that racism still exists in the workplace."

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Date:19/07/2007 10:13:13