Sikh employee seeks $6.6m in damages over racial abuse by colleagues

A BRITISH-BORN Sikh office worker, who was mocked as an 'Arab shoe bomber' and racially abused consistently at his workspace by his colleagues, is suing his former workplace tech company Exertis for £6.6 million as the damage for lost earnings, injury to feelings, and aggravated damages.

Kieran Sidhu, 36, has already won claims of race discrimination, racial harassment, and constructive dismissal against the firm. He was subjected to a litany of bullying and insults in his £46,000-a-year job by his colleagues to the extent that he may be unable to work again, according to a psychiatrist who assessed him.

If the full amount is awarded it would far exceed the current record tribunal payout of £4.7million.

“The size of my client's compensation claim reflects not only the gravity of the ordeal he suffered but the psychiatric assessment that, in all probability, his career is over,” Sidhu's solicitor Lawrence Davies, Daily Mail reported.

Speaking about his harassment, the British-born salesman of Scottish and Indian descent told an employment tribunal in Southampton that he joined the company in 2012, but the racial harassment escalated from January 2016 when he became an account manager. His workplace would often be taped with McDonald's adverts and a spoof male escort business card, saying it was what he would be doing once he was sacked.

His former colleagues, identified as Glynn Smith, Stuart Smith and John Cleary, often called him “Arab with a bomb in his shoe.” On other occasions, they would put his laptop in the bin, hide his mouse and chair, and referred to Sidhu as “f***ing for Isis.”

“'When they're Googling my name going, 'You live in a terrorist area' and all this nonsense, that's draining... for me mentally I'm thinking, where have I gone wrong? Once is a joke, twice is a joke... there hasn't been once in three days where that hasn't happened,” said Sidhu.

The tribunal manager found that Sidhu’s manager failed to take any timely action and even “tried to force him out of the firm because he did not fit with the team.”

Sidhu finally left his job in May 2017 after suffering from extreme depression and anxiety.

Exertis has said in a statement that Sidhu's experience was a “unique case across a business of more than 1,800 employees.” 

“On this occasion, it was clear that certain behaviors within a part of our business fell short of the standards we expect. However, our response makes sure that this should never happen again. Exertis prides itself on being an inclusive employer and continues to invest heavily in increasing awareness in relation to diversity,” the statement said.