Black man ‘called a chimp’ at work

€ 30K PAYOUT IS AWARDED FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

A BLACK Nigerian national who was allegedly called a chimpanzee and subjected to monkey noises by his team leader has been awarded €30,000 for racial discrimination.

Recruitment firm CPL Solutions Ltd, trading as Flexsource Recruitment, was ordered to pay the cash to agency worker Victor Kings Oluebube.

At the time of the alleged racist incidents, Mr Kings Oluebube was assigned by the Dublin-based firm to Kuehne & Nagel as a warehouse operative.

At the Labour Court yesterday, Deputy Chairman Alan Haugh found the firm “is vicariously liable for the harassment in question”.

Mr Haugh stated that in regard to the serious nature of the harassment and the effects it has had on Mr Kings Oluebube, t he r edress should be dissuasive and proportionate to the injury suffered.

Mr Haugh said CPL Solutions was not able to avail of legal defences to racial harassment under the Employment Equality Acts after evidence was heard that no steps were taken to reverse the effects of the racial harassment experienced by Mr Kings Oluebube.

He also stated that CPL Solutions was not able to avail of a separate defence to the discrimination claim due to what the Labour Court described as the employer’s “very unsophisticated Bullying and Harassment policy” and to “the ad hoc approach” adopted by a Flexsource staff member to the investigation of the Mr Kings Oluebube’s allegations.

The decision by the Labour Court reverses an earlier ruling by the Workplace Relations Commission ( WRC) which dismissed Mr Kings Oluebube’s claim.

The WRC adjudicator in June 2020 found that CPL Solutions was able to avail of a defence under the Employment Equality Acts by showing that it took steps to reverse the effects of t he harassment and to prevent a recurrence.

As a result, the WRC stated that CPL Solutions did not harass Mr Kings Oluebube on the race grounds.

The case came before the Labour Court following an appeal by Mr Kings Oluebube.

Harassment

The alleged racial harassment arose from two incidents.

On a date in late February 2019 at the workplace, Mr Kings Oluebube alleged that a colleague called him a chimpanzee and made monkey noises while imitating the gestures of a monkey in front of co-workers.

On May 21, 2019, the colleague allegedly repeated the same racist abuse in the presence of other co-workers.

Mr Kings Oluebube notified the warehouse manager of the alleged racist abuse who in turn notified CPL Solutions.