In Giwa-Amu v Department for Work and Pensions, GA who describes herself as being of Nigerian-Welsh origin and who is 59, succeeded with direct race and age discrimination and harassment claims. The ET found, among other matters, that a DWP colleague, Cartwright, had: (i) violated GA’s dignity by using the term “Paki-lover” in her presence; (ii) sprayed body spray on herself, whilst sat next to GA and had purposefully spun on her chair to be next to GA after she had said it was making her feel sick; (iii) repeatedly accused GA of stealing ice-cream; and, (iv) directed offensive gestures towards GA in a training session. Another colleague, Lewis, told the group during a training session that he had “touched her [GA’s] bum” and made a nasty dig about doubting whether she would return to work which underlined the message “we don’t like you”. The ET awarded GA £233,000 including £42,800 for injury to feelings. The ET also made a number of recommendations to remove or reduce the adverse effects of discrimination including approaching the EHRC to seek their assistance with a view to implementing effective diversity awareness training throughout the organisation.
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