Members: Mr A Grant Mrs E Farrell Mr V Kodra v Limited (in Liquidation) and 1 other — 2021

The claimant, who is Albanian and a Greek citizen, worked for the first respondent as a kitchen porter. The Tribunal accepted that on 25 September 2020 Mr Robbie Syme made a comment referring to Africans, Albanians and Romanians, and that on 6 October 2020 he again referred to Albanians during an argument and physically attacked the claimant. It found this was unwanted conduct related to race or nationality which created an intimidating and hostile environment, and that the first respondent was vicariously liable.

The Tribunal did not find that Mr Marco Arcari used racist language towards the claimant or that his treatment of the claimant amounted to harassment related to race. It found, however, that after the claimant reported that he had been racially abused and assaulted and wanted the police involved, Mr Arcari dismissed him without investigating what had happened. The Tribunal found the principal reason for dismissal was that the claimant had made a protected disclosure, and that the dismissal was automatically unfair.

The Tribunal also found that the first respondent unlawfully withheld statutory sick pay for the claimant's COVID-related absence and that the claimant was wrongfully dismissed because he was not dismissed in circumstances warranting summary dismissal. It rejected the respondent's argument that the claimant had failed to mitigate his losses and awarded notice pay, statutory sick pay, injury to feelings with interest, and loss of income.