An Irish employment tribunal granted Rs 29 lakh (23,526 pounds) in compensation to a local female employee after it was found that her boss was harassing her by constantly calling her “potato”.
Bernadette Hayes held a bookkeeping position at a civil engineering firm in Leeds, where her boss, Mick Atkins, repeatedly used degrading and insulting remarks to mock her background.
Whenever Atkins disagreed with her, he called her “potato” in a strong Irish accent, a report stated. However, he did not stop at that and addressed her with offensive phrases such as “paddy”, “stupid paddy” and “p*key”.
In its ruling, the tribunal adjudicated that Atkins created a hostile environment through his verbal assault.
“From a subjective point of view, it clearly created a hostile, humiliating and offensive environment for her,” Judge Buckley stated.
“In my view, taken as a whole, it is reasonable for an individual of Irish heritage to find the repeated use of the terms ‘potato’, ‘Paddy’, ‘stupid Paddy’ and ‘p*key’ offensive and humiliating.”
“These phrases are overtly linked to race, particularly when considered together rather than in isolation. On that basis, I find that the conduct was linked to race.”
Hayes described the relentless torment as nothing short of a slow, agonising death by a thousand cuts – each day chipping away at her spirit.
For six grueling months, the mere thought of walking through that office door was enough to turn her stomach, leaving her physically ill as she braced herself for yet another day of the nightmare that had consumed her working life.
“This totally eroded my self-respect and my self-esteem. It made me feel small, insecure, violated and extremely anxious. It also made me feel embarrassed,” Hayes told the tribunal.
She further added that she was afraid to ask Atkins to stop as his personality was intimidating and volatile, the report added.
Hayes said she couldn’t just walk away as she needed the paycheck. She kept her head down and stayed quiet, trying not to give him a reason.
But it didn’t matter. Her boss would find a way to get his racist remarks in anyway.
