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DCUK claims routine 'unfair' dismissal was not a racist act

6th November 2003
Page 7
Page 7, 6th November 2003 — DCUK claims routine 'unfair' dismissal was not a racist act
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DA I \ 1 LERCHRYSLER UK (DCUK) has been ordered to pay a former IT worker more than £78,000 for unfair dismissal on racial grounds.

A Bedford employment tribunal heard how Ithalid Jayyosi was Left angry and suicidal after being made redundant from his job at the vehicle manufacturer, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz.

During his 10-month employment he was subjected to racial abuse with jokes made about his Palestinian origin and the fact that he has the same name as one of the September 11 hijackers. On one occasion, senior IT manager Ronald Coles said he hoped Jayyosi would not make a bomb. Another time, a colleague told Jayyosi his computer password had been changed to 'suicide bomber'.

For Jayyosi. his lawyer said that when human resources specialist Michelle Thubron met with his client she gave him the impression that she was suspicious of him and he felt she was treating him as a criminal. in an e-mail to DCUK's human resources manager David Werner. she said that he needed to talk with Jayyosi's line manager lain Moulson about 'exiting' him.

She warned that the firm could not go down the disciplinary route because Jayyosi had done too well in his appraisal to justify such action, and that this might leave the firm open to him using the -race card": more appropriate action would be redundancy.

Two months later. Jayyosi was called to attend a meeting with Moulson and Thubron at which he was immediately dismissed on redundancy grounds. The tribunal heard that the post was later advertised as a 'new' job, which differed little from Jayyosi's original position, and which he could have performed.

Defence lawyers said that while DCUK's dismissal of Jayyosi was unfair, it was not discriminatory and that they routinely 'unfairly' dismiss employees they no longer wish to employ who have been there for less than one year.

A spokeswoman for DCUK declined to comment further.