A tribunal has found a council veteran was wrongfully dismissed after offending colleagues by using the N-word.
Ian Stevenson used the term in an internal training course on anti-radicalisation at Redbridge Council after being asked to give an example of racism that he had witnessed.
Two colleagues complained and his otherwise unblemished 32-year career at the London local authority was brought to a sudden end in July last year, when he was sacked without notice.
The applications support officer said he had only said the word as the course facilitator had described the discussion as a ‘safe space’.
But while the tribunal judge ruled in his favour, Mr Stevenson is only due a fraction of the compensation he might have been in line to receive and will not get his job back.
In her report of proceedings, Judge Imogen Noons said: ‘Although the course was about radicalisation, the claimant’s evidence on the first day of this hearing was that he raised the issue of racism, specifically around Jewish jokes, stereotypes and websites.
‘During the course of this session the claimant asked a question of the facilitator around when situations should be reported as racism, as sometimes it was unclear.
‘She asked him to give an example and the claimant relayed a situation he had been in in 1985 when a black person had referred to his then girlfriend, who was also black, using the N word.’
Mr Stevenson gave an immediate apology in the session for using the racial epithet, the tribunal heard.
But after the course, two attendees complained to a senior manager, making clear how significant an impact his use of the full word had on them.
Judge Noons said his language was ‘extremely offensive’, but upheld the claim for unfair dismissal as no other remedies for disciplinary action, such as mediation, were sought.
She added that it was not ‘practicable ‘ for Mr Stevenson to return to working at the council because there was now a ‘lack of trust’ between himself and his former colleagues who complained.
She said: ‘The claimant’s conduct has genuinely broken the trust and confidence that the respondent had in him.
‘Put shortly the respondent says the claimant should have known better than to use the N word in full and that they have no confidence that he would not use the word again.’
Mr Stevenson said he accidentally used the full word but Judge Imogen Noons cut his possible compensation package by 90% after ruling he deliberately said it.
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