Oil man who suffered ‘horrendous’ racial harassment awarded £8,000

AN OIL worker who was racially harassed by a Scottish colleague – who kept his job – has been awarded £8,000 at a tribunal.

Mark Mccoag, project manager with Cape PLC, sparked a civil action south of the Border following a conversation with two colleagues.

Raymond Atkinson, a supervisor responsible for rope safety on offshore installations, became upset after Mr Mccoag made the offensive remark.

Within Mr Atkinson’s earshot, Mr Mccoag, from Glasgow, said: “All I’ve done is work like a f*****g n****r all my life.”

Mr Mccoag apologised immediately when challenged by Mr Atkinson, who is black, and telephoned him the following day to say sorry. Mr Atkinson sued the company for harassment related to race and an employment tribunal in Yorkshire upheld his complaint, ordering he be awarded the £8,000 in compensation.

At a grievance meeting, Mr Atkinson told bosses he had found it difficult to sleep and had been taking medication. He described his ordeal as “horrendous”.

The company provided him with six sessions of counselling, and acknowledged it had been “difficult and distressing”.

But Mr Atkinson, from Norfolk, resigned on 28 July, 2016, hours after learning the company would not be dismissing Mr Mccoag for his comment.

In a letter to the Scot, operations director Simon Atterton wrote: “The reason I have decided not to dismiss you for gross misconduct is based on the context in which the comment was made, as well as your immediate attempts to rectify the situation.”

The tribunal said it was satisfied this referred to the fact the abusive language was not directed at Mr Atkinson and Mr Mccoag had apologised.

Employment judge Susan Cox said: “Mr Atkinson himself accepted Mr Mccoag had impliedly acknowledged immediately after making the comment what he had said was inappropriate and offensive and had expressly apologised to Mr Atkinson for making the comment a couple of days later.”

Further claims by Mr Atkinson under the Equality Act and for unfair dismissal were thrown out.

The tribunal said it was satisfied Mr Atkinson resigned because Mr Mccoag had not been sacked for the comment.

In a written ruling, employment Judge Cox said: “Within three hours of being told Mr Mccoag’s disciplinary proceedings had been concluded, Mr Atkinson sent his resignation email. That email made clear how disappointed Mr Atkinson was Mr Mccoag had not been dismissed.

The judge said the tribunal did not accept the decision amounted to an act of discrimination, or involved a breach of mutual trust and confidence.

She said: “The sole allegation of discrimination the tribunal upholds relates to Mr Mccoag’s comments on May 4, 2016.

“For that act of harassment, the tribunal orders the company to pay Mr Atkinson the agreed sum of £8,000 in compensation, covering its own liability and that of Mr Mccoag.

“All the other allegations of discrimination fail because the tribunal is satisfied on the evidence it has heard either they did not happen as Mr Atkinson alleged or they happened but were not because of or related to race.”

Within three hours of being told Mr Mccoag’s disciplinary proceedings had been concluded, Mr Atkinson sent his resignation email