The Guardian Australia

FCDO racially discrimina­ted against black senior civil servant, tribunal rules

- Rajeev Syal

The Foreign, Commonweal­th and Developmen­t Office racially discrimina­ted against a black senior civil servant after launching an inquiry into her sex life, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Sonia Warner, a civil servant for 33 years who oversaw government grants given to Nigerian organisati­ons, was the victim of unconsciou­s discrimina­tion when she was “pushed away”, “disowned” or “othered” by colleagues, it concluded.

The ruling follows a six-month department­al inquiry that was launched into Warner while she worked in Nigeria. It was alleged that she had formed an intimate relationsh­ip with an employee of an organisati­on receiving UK government cash – a claim she denied.

The ruling follows a report last year that found that many black, Asian and minority ethnic men working in developmen­t for the government claim to have experience­d prejudice at work, including racist jokes and doubts about their legality as UK citizens.

The tribunal concluded that Warner had been the victim of unconsciou­s bias by senior colleagues assessing and conducting claims against her.

It said: “We have found that the claimant [Warner] was treated with an unwarrante­d degree of suspicion, that unfair assumption­s were made about her, that minds were closed, that she was treated unfairly in the disciplina­ry process, which took an unreasonab­ly long time.

“The explanatio­ns that we received from the respondent [FCDO] for this treatment were not just poor or unreasonab­le excuses. They simply did not adequately explain the degree of unfairness and unreasonab­leness in the treatment and we infer that the missing part of the explanatio­n is the claimant’s race.

“The claimant was ‘pushed away’, ‘disowned’ or ‘othered’ during the disciplina­ry process in a way that we consider would not have happened were she a white civil servant with equivalent length of service and experience,” the tribunal said.

Warner, who had worked across Africa, moved to Nigeria in 2017 as a senior governance adviser, leading on anti-corruption. Her job was to help Nigeria tackle endemic corruption by providing grants to both government and civil society organisati­ons.

In 2019, she suggested that a £2m grant given to a Nigerian charity should be subject to closer monitoring. Two days later, people connected to the charity accused Warner of having an affair with an employee of the charity.

Warner was subsequent­ly accused of misconduct, which included failing to report a conflict of interest due to a relationsh­ip.

The allegation­s resulted in a sixmonth investigat­ion by an all-white FCDO team that gave Warner a final written warning, legal documents show. The tribunal is yet to rule on any compensati­on she may receive. A remedy hearing has been fixed for February.

Warner said: “After 33 years of dedicated service I felt heartbroke­n and humiliated by the treatment I received from white colleagues who I trusted to act in a fair and impartial manner, regardless of my race.

“It has taken two years to be heard on this issue because conscious and unconsciou­s bias is a real barrier to fairness and equality. This is a victory for racial justice, which I hope will lead to a stronger commitment to strengthen­ing HR systems and processes to protect black staff.”

The government’s aid department, the Department for Internatio­nal Developmen­t, which merged with the Foreign and Commonweal­th Office, was severely reprimande­d for signing off an anti-sexual harassment campaign that portrayed BAME men restrainin­g white women.

The findings, including a survey of BAME staff and published in March 2020, were uncovered as the department faced the merger with the Foreign and Commonweal­th Office.

Amanda Hodgson, a partner from the firm Fletcher Day, which represente­d Warner, said: “This is an important judgment, highlighti­ng the subtleness of unconsciou­s bias, which is very difficult to prove at trial. We are hopeful that the judgment will encourage employers to take a considered approach when disciplini­ng employees in the workplace.”

An FCDO spokespers­on said: “We are committed to being an inclusive employer for our 16,500 colleagues around the world. We don’t comment on individual cases.”

 ?? ?? The allegation­s against Sonia Warner resulted in a six-month investigat­ion by an all-white FDCO team. Photograph: Sonia Warner
The allegation­s against Sonia Warner resulted in a six-month investigat­ion by an all-white FDCO team. Photograph: Sonia Warner

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