A British Indian Network Rail employee has successfully won a race harassment case after an anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL) leaflet was left in his locker.
Parmjit Bassi, who is not Muslim, was subjected to a racist attack when the leaflet, which asked “what individuals were doing to protect their children from Islam”, was placed among his belongings.
The railway worker also faced further harassment when colleagues put a newspaper page detailing a knife attack in his boot, implying he was responsible for a high-profile stabbing.
Mr Bassi is now set to receive compensation after the employment tribunal ruled in his favour against Network Rail.
The tribunal concluded that despite Mr Bassi not following Islam, the actions constituted “clear sleights” against his race.
It also found that Network Rail managers displayed a “laissez-faire attitude” towards the incidents.
Mr Bassi, who had worked for Network Rail as a track worker since 1999 at the Eastleigh depot in Hants, had a strained relationship with his colleagues.
The Southampton Employment Tribunal heard that after finding the EDL leaflet in his boots in November 2018, Mr Bassi reported it to his manager.
The manager told the tribunal that Mr Bassi did not want any action taken and that finding a culprit would be impossible.
However, Mr Bassi said that he was “shocked by the leaflet being left as it was, and was concerned that nobody followed up on it”.
The tribunal concluded that Network Rail’s “laissez-faire attitude was very hard to comprehend” regarding the incident, and the manager admitted that more should have been done in hindsight.
The tribunal said: “It should have been clear that [Mr Bassi] was being ostracised and that something needed to be done.
“There was then an act that the Tribunal consider to be of some gravity when the leaflet was placed in [Mr Bassi’s] boot. It was a further manifestation of somebody within the team or some bodies indicating that they did not want [Mr Bassi] at work and there is a very clear racial message contained within.
“The pressure had been ramped up significantly. The Tribunal does not consider that the fact that the leaflet was about the perceived perils of Islam which was not [Mr Bassi’s] religion made any difference.
“[Mr Bassi] was simply lumped in together with what the purveyor of the literature perceived as a dangerous ‘other’. The Tribunal are quite sure that this was a clear an act of racial harassment / intimidation towards [Mr Bassi] as part of the ongoing campaign by a colleague or colleagues.
“It was the first time that race had played a part from the evidence we have before us. To do nothing was weak management and only strengthened the bullies’ position at the expense of [Mr Bassi].”
Mr Bassi took some annual leave to distance himself from the environment, but very shortly after his return in January he was again the victim of racist harassment.
Two copies of a national newspaper with the headline ‘Knifed Nine Times’, and a note written in marker pen saying ‘It was Parm’, were found in the office.
One was with a knife in a kitchen drawer and the other was again found in Mr Bassi’s boot.
He again felt “shocked and saddened that he had again been targeted” and “bullied”.
The tribunal found that Mr Bassi’s feeling that he was not welcome was “entirely understandable and correct”.
His manager “felt that she needed to act to protect his welfare” and he was sent home on full pay “for his own welfare”, but was not consulted on whether that was what he wanted.
He was then moved to work on the Eastleigh signalling team, but this was decided without his input.
Mr Bassi was moved around and continued to look for more suitable work but struggled in his role and was eventually dismissed in April 2021.
He appealed the decision but it was upheld so he took Network Rail to a Southampton Employment Tribunal with a number of claims, of which those of racial harassment and unfair dismissal were successful.
Judge Gary Self concluded: “When [Mr Bassi] made allegations of racist behaviour against him no further action was taken as it was said that the perpetrators could not be identified.
“[Mr Bassi] alleges that this demonstrates less favourable treatment and asserts that he would not have been required to move departments as a result of unsubstantiated allegations but for his race.
“To do nothing was weak management and only strengthened the bullies’ position at the expense of [Mr Bassi].
“We accept on the balance of probabilities that the documents were left for [Mr Sing Bassi] to find.
“The leaflet is from a known organisation with racist views, and we consider that in the context of such a document being left in the boots of a British Asian man, that notwithstanding the fact that it is a leaflet attacking Islam, it was a clear sleight against [Mr Bassi] and his race / colour.
“We have not heard any evidence from whoever placed the leaflet and we conclude that the purpose of doing so was to create the proscribed effect.”
The employment judge also found that the worker had been racially harassed by the newspaper clippings left in his locker.
