A Boots pharmacist who was stereotyped as an ‘aggressive black man’ and later felt forced to resign over managers’ handling of his grievance has won a constructive dismissal and harassment claim.
An employment tribunal has found that Mr Famojuro suffered race-related harassment by two colleagues in July 2020, which Boots then took months to investigate.
Famojuro, who is Nigerian, worked across various Boots branches as a relief pharmacist. When he worked at a pharmacy, he was the “responsible pharmacist” charged with its safe and effective running.
On 18 July 2020, he was working in a branch in Wickford, Essex, with two more junior colleagues, Ms Daley and Ms Walker.
Race-related harassment
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As a responsible pharmacist, he could delegate duties to them as appropriate but on this day his attempts to delegate work were met with resistance.
The tribunal heard that Daley had refused a work-related request he had made, and later snapped at him in front of customers.
Famojuro asked her for a “private word” after the incident in front of customers, and asked her to leave the store for the day. However, Daley claimed he had a “very loud, aggressive” tone and “was in close proximity to [her], shouting that [she] needed to leave”.
Walker stepped in, telling Famojuro that he was “out of order” and that if anyone needed to leave, it should be him. Walker and Daley telephoned their manager, Ms Munson, who was not working that day, and she told Walker that the claimant should be asked to leave.
Munson then spoke to the claimant on the phone and he accidentally disconnected the call. When she called him back, Munson shouted at the claimant, calling him an “utter disgrace”. Munson later apologised for this.
Walker told the tribunal that the claimant’s voice was raised and he was shouting at Munson, which the tribunal dismissed as untrue. Walker threatened to call the police about him because she claimed he was “towering over her” and had made her flinch.
The claimant telephoned his manager, Ms Hayes, and he was told to go home. This meant that the pharmacy could not trade as there would be no responsible pharmacist on site.
As he was gathering his things, Walker was alleged to have said that she hoped some cakes that had been given to him by another colleague were poisoned.
Grievance investigation
He later raised a grievance about how he had been treated. The grievance was submitted in late July, however after numerous delays because of annual leave, illness and a lack of availability for meetings, witnesses were not interviewed until January 2021.
When his grievance was finally investigated by the company, the tribunal found it had failed to properly investigate whether race was a factor in how he was treated that day.
Further flaws in the investigation by pharmacist store manager Mr Barton included failing to ask questions about Walker’s and Daley’s behaviour and failing to probe some of the specific allegations Famojuro had made including Walker’s threat to call the police.
The investigation found that “the lack of any credible independent evidence makes it impossible to determine any decision either way.“
Famojuro appealed against the decision, but this was dismissed. He resigned from the company in April 2021, referring to the prolonged investigation and a failure to properly investigate his allegations.
‘Highly personalised abuse’
Walker told the tribunal that her conduct towards the claimant “could not have been influenced by the claimant’s race because… she made a lot of friends with pharmacists, two of whom were black Nigerian women who came to her wedding”.
However, employment judge David Massarella’s judgment said that despite not making any overt racist comments, Walker and Daley’s behaviour escalated from dismissing discourtesy to open insubordination and highly personalised abuse.
“We have no reason to doubt Mrs Walker’s evidence that she is friendly with other black colleagues, but the fact that a person has black friends does not mean they cannot discriminate in other contexts,” the judge said.
“For a black man to be reported to the police for aggression against two white women, in the absence of any third-party witnesses, is potentially a very serious matter indeed. The conduct alleged was unwanted.
“We have no doubt that, subjectively, the claimant found their treatment of him on 18 July 2020 distressing and humiliating. He said so in his grievance and maintained the position consistently thereafter. By the end of the day, as he told Ms Hayes he was shaken and feared for his safety.”
Despite finding flaws in Boots’ investigation, the tribunal found that these shortcomings were not motivated by race. Instead, it found those investigating were “completely out of their depth” and had received no training in dealing with discrimination complaints.
The tribunal found that Famojuro had been constructively dismissed and harassed because of his race. However, it dismissed his direct race discrimination claim. Compensation will be discussed at a further hearing.
Martin Williams, partner and head of employment at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, said that the judge was right to have said that having black friends does not prevent someone from acting in a discriminatory fashion.
“There is a potential for unconscious bias in all of us, and that bias can end up being voiced in stressful situations,” he said.
“Employers can help prevent this kind of incident by providing training, so staff can gain an understanding of how they may discriminate, with respect to any protected characteristic, even if they think they do not harbour particular views. Self-reflection in a safe space brings about awareness which can prevent doing and saying the wrong thing when interacting with colleagues in pressured situations.”
Boots has been contacted for comment.
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