Car salesman wins bias case

A LUXURY car salesman who was subjected to racist abuse at his workplace and later sacked has won an unfair dismissal case.

Shailesh Rathod, 49, was the only non-white salesman at the dealership in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, where he was a target of racist jokes. He was called ‘chapati’ and ‘poppadom’ by his colleagues, according to a MailOnline report.

Rathod said he had “no choice but to go along” with the jibs because he was an “outsider trying to integrate”, and he had to keep his job.

However, after the toxic work culture began to take a toll on his mental and physical health, he raised a grievance with his bosses and complained about one colleague.

Instead, Rathod was sacked on charges of race and sex harassment towards the white colleague, for sending racially offensive and misogynistic memes and jokes on WhatsApp.

The Asian worker sued Pendragon Sabre Ltd, which owns the Porsche garage, for unfair dismissal, and won his case.

A judge ruled that bosses ignored the wider office culture, saying Rathod was racially harassed and was just trying to fit in.

At Nottingham Employment Tribunal Centre, judge Clark criticised the environment at Porsche Sutton Coldfield.

He was quoted as saying, “I find the culture was ‘laddish’, crude and immature... I find the comments and contributions were neither inadvertent nor simply misguided. They amounted to deliberate and aggressive expressions of misogyny, hostility towards homosexuality, and racism.”

Rathod’s compensation will be determined in a later hearing.