In Leader v Hossack, L initially presented racial harassment claims against his employer, Leeds City Council, and a colleague, H. However, in a preliminary hearing, L accepted that the Council had made out the statutory defence under S.109(4) of the Equality Act 2010 that it had taken all reasonable steps to prevent H from making any racist comments to fellow employees, so the case proceeded against H alone. The ET found that when L (black African-Caribbean) and H were listening to the news in their vehicle on the radio and the broadcaster announced that at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games the temperature was -11° C, H said to L: “If you think it’s cold here you should take your black arse over there.” L looked at H with astonishment and H then said to him: “Your arse is black isn’t it?” The vehicle then pulled up behind a lorry with a Polish registration plate and H said: “These f*****g foreigners”. The ET held that it was reasonable to conclude that the unwanted comments amounted to racial harassment having the effect of creating a humiliating and offensive environment and ordered H to pay L £2,769.

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