Related Articles
An Asian postman was sent a letter by his colleague which called him a terrorist, racial slurs and claimed the office belonged to “whites only”.
Rizwan Shah, 34, from Watford, has won a £30,000 race discrimination payout from the Royal Mail following the racially abusive letter received at his home address on February 10, 2019, and another incident where he was assaulted at the workplace.
After working at the Watford Delivery Office for nearly 16 years, Mr Shah put in a complaint to his manager in hopes to make things better while working.
But when he raised his concerns to his manager, Royal Mail took no action to investigate the racist letter.
The tribunal, led by Employment Judge McNeill QC, heard how the letter included racial slurs like ‘p*ki b*****d’ and that he should “pack up” and “f**k off” back to his country.
The letter, which was classed as a hate crime by police, also warned that he was not welcome in the office, and it “belongs to the whites only”.
The letter concluded that “we will smash you up when we catch you” and referred to an unidentified employee as a “black c**t”, before finishing off with “Britain First rules!!!!!”
Mr Shah’s counsel, Theodora Hand of St Philips Chambers, explained the author of the letter was never identified.
She said: “Had they investigated the claim closer to the time, perhaps they could have identified them.”
Mr Shah did share to the manager who he suspected the author could be.
It was also determined by the tribunal that Mr Shah had been subjected to acts of race discrimination by his manager, Matthew James, including failing to take sufficient action in the investigation of a complaint of assault by Mr Shah in December 2018.
Luca Liberti of Clements Solicitors, instructed by Mr Shah, explained that Mr Shah was pushed out of the room during this incident.
Talking about the two incidents, Mr Liberti said: “I think it did make him very paranoid that someone in there felt these ways. He felt very vulnerable.
“When you have a letter, so blatantly clear and obvious of racist language used, it’s very upsetting.”
Luca Liberti (left) and Theodora Hand (right)
He added: “Many incidents of blatant racism in the workplace go unchallenged. Mr Shah had the courage and determination to make a stand and it has been recognised by the employment tribunal that he was discriminated against.
“Views as expressed in the letter of February 10, 2019, are quite simply disgusting and have no place in society.”
Miss Hand said: “It was a substantial sum of compensation, Mr Shah wasn’t looking to do this as a means to recover financially. He wanted justice for his treatment.”
She described the case as “a most heinous, shock act of racism which has no place in this country”.
The sum was classed as an upper-tier band of compensation to feeling of injury, and Miss Hand called it a “fair judgement”.
Mr Shah said: “This was never about compensation; it was about getting recognition for the way I have been treated. I am very pleased that the tribunal sided with me and hope that this judgment will help ensure others are not treated the way I was, in any of my employer’s offices.”
Miss Hand also revealed there were several other claims of discrimination at the Watford delivery office from other employees.
