In the case of Mr S Kahsay, Mr Y Tesfamariam and Mr R Araya v Greggs PLC Mr Kahsay, and his co-workers Yonas Tesfamariam and Robeil Araya, had raised concerns that they weren’t happy with the way manager Craig Dixon was dealing with their allegations of racial abuse.

It came from the three being investigated for over accusations they took unauthorised breaks during work and even “falsifying” their attendance, the Newcastle Employment Tribunal heard.

During the investigation, in June 2021, the three workers alleged they were being treated differently due to their race.

Joanne Howe, site service supervisor, emailed production manager Mr Dixon on June 27 to say, “they were not happy with the way in which he was managing the investigation” and that they “agreed to go ahead with the allegation of race discrimination”.

Mr Dixon, who was on a day off, then stormed into work. The “fired up” Mr Dixon was said to have been “intimidating” and threatened “if you take this further you will be in big trouble”, it was heard.

The tribunal ruled the outburst amounted to harassment related to his race.

A tribunal report said: “The tribunal is satisfied that for Mr Dixon to do that he was probably at least frustrated by the comments and most likely angry for having to lose his free time to deal with it.

“The tribunal concluded that he was extremely unhappy and upon entering the office he threw his face mask on the desk and spoke to the [three workers] in an aggressive and intimidating manner pointing his finger saying, ‘if you take this further you will be in big trouble’.”

The report added that Mr Kahsay had told Mr Dixon that “he was treating black people and white people differently”.

All three men were sacked in July 2021 over the unauthorised breaks and allegations of race discrimination were not investigated.

At appeal, Mr Kahsay said he took extra-long toilet breaks due to his IBS and produced a doctor’s report – however Gregg’s investigators said it had “no merit”.

The tribunal ruled the three Greggs workers’ sackings were unfair as John Murphy, disciplinary manager, had gone into the hearing with a “closed mind”.

Judge Pitt said: “Mr Dixon went onto site because he was aware the [workers] were unhappy. By the time he arrived at site he was fired up because he had had to attend work on his down day The tribunal concluded the behaviour of Mr Dixon on that day was unacceptable, to raise his voice to a junior employee is undesirable to then throw his mask onto the desk was reprehensible.

“He was aware Mr Kahsay wanted to pursue race allegations and was clearly ‘fired up’. The Tribunal concluded that the actions and words are linked together and were because of [the workers] wishing to pursue their race claim. Therefore, they were subjected to harassment related to their race.”