Tesco worker sues for discrimination after colleague farted in his face

Rahman Lowe Solicitors represent Atif Masood in his high profile claim for race and religious discrimination against his employer, Tesco.

Mr Masood is Asian (British Pakistani) and he is a practising Muslim. He claims that he was bullied, harassed and victimised at work because of his race and/or religious belief. In his grievance, he complained about being treated differently by a group of Indian/Hindu colleagues; that he was sent discriminatory texts/WhatsApp messages and that his Shift Leader farted in his face, along with other discriminatory acts.

His employment tribunal claim has received considerable press attention and was reported in the Sun, Mirror, Daily Mail, Evening Standard and Metro (among other papers).

Mr Masood claims the disgusting incident was just one of many examples of bullying he experienced at the hands of colleagues. On one occasion, he was told “Muslims are terrorists”.

Mr Masood’s solicitor, Zillur Rahman said: “It is shocking that a Shift leader and other senior employees of one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains created a hostile, degrading and offensive working environment for our client. That was plainly inappropriate and unacceptable“.

An internal investigation carried out by the supermarket chain found that the disgusting incident occurred. In relation to our client’s complaint about discriminatory comments at work about members of the Pakistani community, the manager dealing with the grievance concluded that the remarks were made with the intention of being a “joke” or as “banter”.  However, the company failed to take any disciplinary action against our client’s colleagues and our client was denied access to relevant documents, including the investigation report and statements.

Jahad Rahman said: “Given the serious nature of our client’s complaint about equality issues at work, it is disappointing that no action was taken against those that harassed our client. We all like a bit of banter but the senior employees clearly crossed the line in this case because their conduct was unwanted and offensive. Discrimination is unacceptable in all its forms and has no place in the workplace.”

The company denies the claims.  The employment tribunal hearing is due to take place next year and we are confident that Mr Masood will be successful.

Racism and religious intolerance appear to have become more acceptable in the wake of the Brexit referendum and we have seen an alarming increase in the number of race and religious discrimination claims. The UN special rapporteur recently reported a growth in ‘Brexit-related’ racism.

For further information, please call us on 0207 956 8699 or email info@rllaw.co.uk.