Black accountant wins case after co-workers refused to get in lift

2022-10-26

Black accountant at firm which owns luxury goods giants Cartier and Montblanc wins race harassment case after four of her colleagues refused to get in a lift with her while pulling faces at each other

Cheryl Spragg held lift doors open for four of her colleagues but was ‘snubbed’
Tribunal heard that they even pulled faces to each other during the incident
Upmarket Richemont owns jewellery giant Cartier and pen maker Montblanc
Another worker claimed London Richemont office was rife with ‘casual racism’

A black accountant at a firm which owns jewellery giant Cartier and pen maker Montblanc has won a race harassment case after four of her colleagues refused to get in a lift with her.

Cheryl Spragg, an account manager at Richemont UK, held the elevator doors open for her co-workers but was ‘snubbed’ as they ‘deliberately ignored’ her and walked past.

The four employees at Richemont – which also owns Net-A-Porter and fashion label Chloé – even pulled faces to each other during the incident, an employment tribunal heard.

Ms Spragg, who is of Jamaican descent, successfully sued the firm for race harassment, race discrimination, and victimisation.

Her colleagues denied they were ignoring the account manager due to her race but were rather playing a ‘racing game’ to the bottom of the London building.

However, the tribunal ruled that it was race harassment, citing that it was ‘offensive and humiliating’ and ‘violated her dignity’.

Ms Spragg, who began working for Richemont in 2006, is now entitled to compensation.

One Malaysian Chinese worker claimed that the London Richemont office was rife with ‘casual racism’.

Cheryl Spragg, an account manager at Richemont UK, has won a race harassment case after four of her colleagues refused to get in a lift with her. Pictured: Richemont London office

Ms Spragg had been waiting for the lift in May 2016 when senior credit controller Byron Burgess and accounts workers Sara Decort, Divya Patel, and Beata Grzegorcyk-Rapacewicz all approached her.

Ms Patel was caught on CCTV turning around and ‘pulling a face with a wide-open mouth’, and the tribunal was told Mr Burgess made a ‘whipping noise’.

All of them admitted at the London tribunal they saw her holding the door open for them.

Ms Spragg called this ‘bullying and ostracism’ and raised it in a grievance in December 2016, saying she was the only black member of staff at the lift, and they decided not to get in the lift with her, and behaved with ‘total disregard’ for her feelings.

She told the tribunal that when she complained about the lift incident, she was told the grievance would ‘take too long’ and might be better off looking for another job.

The tribunal found this investigation was ‘dismissive’ of race discrimination.

HR manager Charlene Saint-Cast, who investigated the incident, told Ms Spragg: ‘I might remind you that you are not the only ‘black member of staff’ within your team.

‘No allegations of racism have ever been raised by any member of staff in the past.’

The four employees at Richemont – which also owns Net-A-Porter and fashion label Chloé- even pulled faces to each other during the incident, an employment tribunal heard. (File image)

But Ms Spragg raised the incident once more in January 2017 which was investigated by then global HR director Caroline Welch-Ballentine.

The tribunal found Ms Welch-Ballentine was ‘not sufficiently open minded’ and and ‘she did not probe matters with [Ms Spragg] and was content to accept the finding that had already been made, despite the footage showing differently’.

Ms Spragg was told to stop contacting HR and to delete the CCTV footage, or she would face disciplinary action, which the tribunal ruled as an act of victimisation.

The tribunal also stated she experienced direct discrimination when applying for a controller job role in March, finding there was a ‘preference for white continental Europeans’.

In addition, she experienced ‘disproportionate’ covert surveillance into her personal life by having her picture taken when Managing Director Kevin Boltman saw her outside of work in May 2017, when she was off work with a bad back.

Ms Spragg, of Jamaican descent, was an account manager at Richemont – who own jewellery giant Cartier. Pictured: Cartier store on New Bond Street, London

Regarding the lift incident, Employment Judge Elliott concluded: ‘The actions of Mr Burgess were because of race. We have found that the three more junior women were just following his lead.

‘He could not say why he acted as he did. We have drawn an adverse inference that this was because of race. [Ms Spragg] was the only black employee present on that occasion.

‘We find she was snubbed by the other four when she held the lift door open for them, and they walked past her in single file, in Mr Burgess’s case making a strange movement and, in Ms Patel’s case pulling a face.

‘We find this was conduct which was violating to her dignity. It was offensive and humiliating.’

Judge Elliott also said there was a ‘lack of sensitivity’ in dealing with Ms Spragg’s complaints: ‘We found a lack of sensitivity on this discrimination complaint.

‘We find that the respondent was incredulous that anyone could complain about race discrimination. It had never happened before.

‘Yet this came from an HR professional, in a team of HR professionals, including at the very top, who had never received any training on equality and diversity, and it was not a racially diverse HR team.’

Source: Read Full Article