A company director who repeatedly shouted ‘potato’ at an Irish woman has been ordered to pay her £23,300 after an employment tribunal found she had been racially harassed.
Over a period of six months Mick Atkins, from engineering firm West Leeds Civils, targeted Bernadette Hayes, who is Irish, using terms like ‘paddy’, ‘stupid paddy’ and ‘pikey’.
She told an employment tribunal in Leeds that she ‘tried to accept it as humour’, but ultimately knew it was wrong.
Things got worse when Atkins’ friend Marcus Smith became involved in the company.
Bernadette said: ‘If we had a disagreement, he would shout “potato” in a strong Irish accent over and over again.’
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She described how he would even shout it when she walked into the office without her having said anything.
She said: ‘This totally eroded my self-respect and my self-esteem. It made me feel small, insecure, violated and extremely anxious.’
Employment judge Sophie Buckley heard how Bernadette received potato in a WhatsApp message and was called a gypsy or traveller because of her Irish heritage.
‘He would constantly say I was lusting after the travellers outside the office,’ she said. ‘I felt bullied and harassed by this.’
Bernadette expressed her unhappiness but felt she could not leave her job. Eventually, in July 2024, she had enough and was signed off work with stress.
She raised a grievance against Atkins and Smith saying: ‘The last six months at this job has made me feel like I have suffered a death by 1,000 cuts.’
Atkins described the proceedings against his firm as ‘nonsense from start to finish’ and she was dismissed.
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Finding in Bernadette’s favour, Judge Buckley said: ‘From a subjective point of view, it clearly created a hostile, humiliating and offensive environment for her.
‘In my view, taken as a whole, it is reasonable for an individual of Irish heritage to find the repeated use of the terms “potato”, “paddy”, “stupid paddy” and “pikey” offensive and humiliating.’
She was awarded £20,736 and the company was told to give her four weeks’ pay, amounting to £2,800 after the judge upheld her harassment claim.
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