Stephen SimpsonAn Equality Tribunal has held that an Englishman was discriminated against by his Irish colleagues, in an unusual race discrimination ruling from the Republic of Ireland.
The English worker successfully argued that he had been harassed by his Irish colleagues at a Dublin engineering firm and was awarded compensation of €20,000 (around £15,000). He complained that the harassment included colleagues never speaking to him; the singing of Irish political songs in his presence; and taunts that they should “send the Brit in” when they had to enter potentially dangerous work areas. However, the Equality Tribunal rejected his claim that he had later been chosen for redundancy because he was English.
Although decided under Republic of Ireland legislation, the case is a reminder to UK employers that race discrimination includes discrimination on the grounds of nationality and national origins. It is also well-established that the English, Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are separate racial groups for these purposes (BBC Scotland v Souster [2001] IRLR 150 CS [subscription required to access individual reports]).
Read more about the case on The Irish Times website.
