Bank manager loses race discrimination claim after tribunal ruled colleague who sent video with racial slur to work WhatsApp group didn't realise it was racist
- Bank manager Muma Mweemba, 33, has lost a race discrimination claim
- Mweemba took offence to 20-second video containing slur 'P*** b*****d'
- Sender apologised for the clip and said they did not realise it contained slur
- Mweemba made 12 allegations against Clydesdale Bank, tribunal heard
A bank manager has lost a race claim after a tribunal ruled a colleague who sent a 'highly offensive' video which showed a boy calling an Asian shopkeeper a 'P*** b*****d' did not realise the clip was racist.
Muma Mweemba took offence to the 20-second video, which shows a young boy apparently trying to buy cigarettes and alcohol before calling the Asian shopkeeper a racist term after he is refused service.
The clip was sent to a social WhatsApp group at the beginning of the pandemic in reference to people panic-buying items such as toilet roll.
A tribunal heard that the sender apologised after sharing the video and claimed they had not realised the clip contained the slur.
Mweemba, 33, made a total of 12 allegations against Clydesdale Bank including false claims that colleagues spread rumours about him being 'a heroin addict.'
Although an internal investigation found it 'could not be ruled out' that race had 'played a part' in Mweemba's treatment at work, the tribunal dismissed all his allegations of race discrimination.
Muma Mweemba took offence to the 20-second video, which shows a young boy apparently trying to buy cigarettes and alcohol before calling the Asian shopkeeper a racist term after he is refused service
Mweemba was working at the Leeds offices of Virgin Money, which was acquired by Clydesdale Bank in 2018, and had previously worked for Lombard Asset Finance in the same role.
As of February 2021 'just over 3 per cent' of the bank's employees were from an ethnic minority and 'fewer than 0.5 per cent' were black, the remote tribunal heard.
Despite this, the tribunal was 'glad' to hear of initiatives to 'improve diversity', but said it would 'approach matters on the basis that [Mweemba] was one of very few black employees, let alone managers.'
Mweemba, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, submitted a grievance in May 2020 which included complaints that a colleague was 'spreading rumours' that he was a 'recovering drug addict'.
The tribunal heard he 'drew inference' that comments between colleagues who joked, 'What are you doing tonight, heroin?', 'Friday night is smack night' referred to him.
Following the comments, Mweemba was said to have asked one of his colleagues 'why he is always talking about heroin'.
However, the tribunal dismissed this claim, saying: 'The numbered complaints of direct discrimination do not succeed... there were no such rumours spread about [Mweemba].'
Another incident in January 2020 occurred when a different colleague made a joke about 'cleansing' his Facebook friends as he 'had a lot that he did not know or speak to regularly.' Other colleagues laughed but Mweemba 'kept asking why it was funny' and 'would not drop the matter.'
Mweemba was working at the Leeds offices of Virgin Money, which was acquired by Clydesdale Bank in 2018, and had previously worked for Lombard Asset Finance in the same role (stock image)
The tribunal heard he thought it referred to how his social media posts to promote his boxing had 'slowed down' at that time.
The following day Mweemba asked to see the colleague who had made the joke, Mr McMullen, 'privately'. In an email to his manager following the meeting, Mr McMullen complained to a superior manager about Mweemba's conduct.
He alleged Mweemba had asked him 'if he knew what a smear campaign was' and referred to 'what he and his family would do' if one was launched against him. Mr McMullen was said to have been 'intimidated' by the 'aggressive' welterweight boxer after the exchanges.
In March that year another colleague of Mweemba shared a '20 second video' about 'panic buying' to a social group of workmates on the encrypted messaging application WhatsApp.
Describing the video, Employment Judge Sarah-Jane Davies said: 'It was at the start of the pandemic, when there was widespread coverage of people panic buying items such as toilet rolls.
'The video was about panic buying. It showed a child going into a shop to buy cigarettes and alcohol and being refused. The highly offensive racial slur 'You P*** b******' was then used towards the shopkeeper.'
Mweemba replied 'Completely inappropriate' when he watched the video around six hours later, and shortly after he left the WhatsApp group.
The colleague who posted the clip, Mr Hastings, hastily messaged Mweemba to apologise, saying he 'had not viewed the video to the end' before posting it.
Judge Davies said: 'Mr Hastings's evidence was consistent with the immediate apology he sent. There was no evidence of any other behaviour like this from Mr Hastings.
'The Claimant was offended by the racial slur. Although he is not of Asian or Pakistani origin, he had himself been regularly subjected to that slur as a child.'
But the tribunal dismissed the claims of racism because though the video sent was 'highly offensive', the colleague who posted the clip was 'unaware' of the racial slur in the video.
Concluding, Judge Davies said: 'The tribunal accepted Mr Hastings's evidence that he had not viewed the video when he posted it and was unaware of the racial slur at the end.
'We are satisfied in those circumstances that the conduct did not have the purpose of violating the [Mweemba]'s dignity or creating the proscribed environment.
'[Mweemba] was clearly and rightly offended and upset by the video. However, we found that this did not meet the higher threshold of violating his dignity.
'All of the evidence pointed to [Mweemba] being offended and upset, but not to the more serious and marked effect of having his dignity violated by the video.'
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July 12, 2021 at 07:25PM
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Bank manager loses race claim after colleague who sent video didn't realise it was racist - Daily Mail
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