A WOMAN who was repeatedly mocked by her boss for being Irish has been awarded a £23k payout following an employment tribunal.
Bernadette Hayes was employed as a bookmaker at West Leeds Civils in Leeds when she was subjected to what a judge has ruled as “racial harassment”.
Over a period of six months, from December 2023 to June 2024, the firm's director Mick Atkins regularly shouted “potato” in a mock Irish accent at Ms Hayes, who was 55 at the time.
He also used the words ‘paddy’ ‘stupid paddy’ and ‘pikey’ in her presence, the employment tribunal heard, court documents published this week reveal.
“The claim of racial harassment is based on comments made by Mr Atkins spanning a period of six months from the end of December 2023 to the end of June 2024,” Judge Sophie Buckley found.
“The incidents take place at intervals of between a few days to, at the most, three weeks,” she added.
“The language used by Mr Atkins is either ‘potato’ ‘paddy’ ‘stupid paddy’ or ‘pikey’.
“Mr Atkins did not deny that he said or wrote any of the comments alleged by the claimant to amount to race discrimination or harassment.
Judge Sophie Buckely made the ruling at the Leeds Employment Tribunal“In addition, the written comments are evidenced by messages included in the bundle.”
Judge Buckley found that Ms Hayes had made it clear to her employer that she did not find his comments about her race funny.
She also added that on two occasions Ms Hayes “joined in” because she wanted to “fit in”.
“I find that the claimant did not regularly use the term ‘potato’ to describe herself,” Judge Buckley said.
“I do not accept that these conversations were, in general, ‘back and forth’ as Mr Smith described it.
“I accept the claimant did, on two occasions, ‘join in’ in the sense that she used the word potato or the potato emoji in text messages.
“In January 2024, after Mr Atkins had called her a potato in a text message, the claimant responded with a potato emoji.
“I accept that her reason for doing this was to fit in and to ‘make it seem ok’.
“On one more occasion, in February 2025, after Mr Atkins had called the claimant ‘potato’, she replied, some days later, with a potato emoji.
“I accept that the claimant was attempting to make light of the situation.”
According to the court documents, Ms Hayes was eventually signed off work in July 2024 after she began suffering from anxiety and depression due to the “hostile and toxic” environment she had been working within.
“The last six months at this job has made me feel like I have suffered a death by 1000 cuts,” Ms Hayes said.
“Due to working in a hostile and toxic environment my GP signed me off work with work related stress on 29th July 2024,” she added in a statement outlining her case.
“This is after months of harassment and bullying, which has led me to have panic attacks, stop sleeping and stop eating.”
She explained: “Throughout my time at West Leeds Civils, Mr Atkins did make occasional comments about me being Irish.
“Most in gest, and whilst I knew it was wrong, I tried to accept it as humour.
“However, throughout the last six months this ramped up.
“If we had a disagreement, he would shout potato in a strong Irish accent over and over again.
“He done this in front of other members of staff. He would shout potato as soon as he walked in the office without having me having even spoke to him.
“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.
“I used to remain quiet so as not to draw attention to myself but even this did not work.”
Ruling at the Leeds Employment Tribunal, Judge Buckley allowed the claim of race harassment and awarded Ms Hayes £23,526 compensation, including £13,000 in “injury to feelings” and £6,104 related to loss of earnings.
In her judgement, Judge Buckely said “from a subjective point of view” the harassment Ms Hayes experienced “clearly created a hostile, humiliating and offensive environment for her”.
She added: “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 “pikey” 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. On that basis the harassment claim succeeds.”
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