An English fire fighter has won £4200 in compensation from an Irish city council for discrimination in the workplace.
The Equality Tribunal heard that Martin Mannering from Co. Limerick received a note in his locker telling him to leave his job because he was ‘no longer in Middlesbrough’. The note advised him to do the same as a colleague who had transferred from Limerick to Dublin, saying that “This is Limerick, not Middlesbrough…take (name of the former employee)’s advice.”
Mr Mannering, originally from Middlesbrough, has worked with the fire service in Limerick since 2001. He alleged that this was not the only incident which had taken place in the course of his employment where he felt that he had been treated less favourably than co-workers simply because he was English.
At a hearing last May, Mr Mannering said that the racist note which he received in September 2006, could only have come from someone in the fire station. He said that he had reported the anonymous note to a member of the station’s human resources staff, who were ‘shocked and disgusted’ by it. He also met the Chief Fire Officer along with his union representative. Despite this, he claimed that his employer had failed to protect him from harassment.
Although Limerick City Council accepted that the incident with the note had taken place, it denied discriminating against Mr Mannering and said it also employed two other English fire fighters, who they believed were treated equally. The council said that in fact it was Mr Mannering and his union representative that obstructed the investigation into the incident.
Equality Officer Stephen Bonnlander said the anonymous writer or writers of the note were not only suggesting that he left his job, they were referring to his nationality. The Chief Fire Officer had accepted a transfer request from Mr Mannering but had not looked into the harassment claim, and so their response could not be considered an adequate response to his complaint.
Mr Bonnlander added that the Chief Fire Officer’s failure to insist on a full investigation into the claim was in contravention of the obligation that their anti-harassment policy places on staff members at a senior level. He also said that this amounted to a failure to take reasonably practicable steps to prevent the complainant’s harassment and decided that the council had discriminated against the fire fighter.
