Tribunal update: Language issues in the workplace

We report two recent employment tribunal rulings in which tribunals considered language issues in the workplace that resulted in payouts for unfair dismissal and race discrimination. The cases involve:

• an unfair dismissal award of £15,000 for a Portuguese care worker who was dismissed for the single use of a rude word; and
• a race discrimination award of £7,000 for a Polish nursery worker who was criticised by a colleague for speaking her native language.