€20,000 for racially abused English pipe fitter

An English pipe fitter who was verbally and racially abused while working for an engineering company has been awarded €20,000 in compensation by an Irish Equality Tribunal in Dublin. The man said he was called names by his colleagues because of his background and became the butt of racist jokes and taunting almost immediately after starting work on a Dublin construction site.

He said just two weeks into the job he began eating lunch in his car when canteen banter, such as negative reports about England’s performance in the 2006 World Cup and comments about the Sellafield nuclear power plant, was being directed at him by his co-workers.

The man, who requested he remain anonymous and was referred to as “Mr C”, told the tribunal his colleagues would say “send the Brit in” to clear the way if they had to enter any potentially dangerous areas in their work. He said some colleagues never spoke to him and others deliberately sang politically-charged Irish rebel songs in his presence.

The man was made redundant just two months after taking the position and he told the tribunal he believed he was sacked instead of a less-experienced Irish worker because he was British. He said when the subject of redundancy arose one colleague said “the Brit should be sacked and an Irishman should not be let go” and that another worker told his supervisor “no Irishman is going out of the gate while we employ a Brit”.

The tribunal found the man was racially harassed and that some of acts he was subjected to were of a blatant and intimidatory nature. It said the company had not taken practicable steps to prevent his harassment on grounds of race. It ordered the company to pay the man €20,000 in compensation, but it deemed he was not chosen for redundancy because of his nationality.