Overview

• Colleague Tony Bennett wrote the word “slave” on a Hubtex machine to protest warehouse conditions, and the mark went unnoticed until December 2023.
• Employment Judge David Hughes found that the term’s evocation of historic Black enslavement violated Seedy Fofana’s dignity and created a hostile environment.
• Fofana’s original £500,000 race harassment claim was dismissed as disproportionate to the harm caused.
• Window Widgets was faulted for failing to spot the offensive graffiti during routine checks even though it removed all other markings once alerted.
• The decision clarifies that under UK law the effect of racially charged conduct on a protected person outweighs the actor’s intent in defining harassment.