An employee of electrical goods chain Currys has failed in his claim of race discrimination against the retailer after his mug had gone missing in the office.
Employed in a south of England branch of Currys as a credit support associate, Mr Habib succeeded in part of his claim for breach of contract, for which he was awarded £1,210 as damages; the figure represents the amount of notice pay he was owed.
Other claims for sexual harassment, failure to make disability adjustments and unfair dismissal failed, in the latter case because he had not been working for the company for two years or more.
The mug incident formed part of Habib’s race discrimination claim and had “upset Mr Habib greatly”, the court found.
“Just how upset he was probably seemed to his colleagues to be out of proportion to the loss of a mug,” the judge wrote.
Data and operations manager Ms Andrews (who had first interviewed Habib for the job in December 2022) told the tribunal that the understanding in the workplace was that all mugs were communal if left in the kitchen. An employee who wanted to use a mug as their own, was expected to wash it and take it to their desk.
Habib had left his mug in the kitchen and was told by a colleague, Ms Farmer, that it was likely that the mug had been used by someone else. She then offered to go round the office with Habib in search of the mug.
However, the tribunal heard that Habib “probably did give his colleagues reason to believe that he viewed the loss of the mug as stealing. We find that this is likely to have caused some resentment towards him.” It accepted that Habib was very troubled by the mug incident.
When Habib told the tribunal he had been cold-shouldered, Andrews revealed that in fact Habib had attended post-work drinks and continued to take part in a WhatsApp group chat with colleagues. Habib did not dispute this.
‘Social isolation’
The judge said “Social isolation is a terrible thing. Sad though it is to have to say this, it seems to us to be likely that Mr Habib is, unfortunately, ill-equipped to cope with the nuances of social interaction in the workplace, and lacks the sort of social skills that might have eased tensions that arose around the mug incident.”
Habib also accused a Mrs B of sexually harassing him by asking him why he didn’t have children and rubbing her bosom against him. He said she kept leaving an empty drink bottle on his desk called “Juice Burst”. He held that this had a sexual connotation. Mrs B denied any sexual interest in Habib, pointing out it was Habib who asked her if she was married, to which she replied that she was, with two children. The tribunal found Habib’s claims to be “incredible” and dismissed them.
Holiday request
Andrews turned down a holiday request from Habib for five weeks off to visit Pakistan and attend various weddings there, eventually offering 2.5 weeks. Habib alleged this was racial discrimination but was unable to demonstrate to the tribunal why this was. Andrews had explained to him that it was a busy time for the business and that, so early in his time at the company, he needed to focus on his performance. Also, Currys had a policy of generally not allowing more than two weeks’ holiday leave.
Habib was aggrieved that Farmer had been allowed four weeks leave. But the tribunal heard that she was a particularly strong candidate for employment whom Andrews was keen not to lose and that she had booked the holiday before joining Currys.
Habib was dismissed in March 2023. The tribunal awarded him three weeks’ notice pay because there was no mention of a probation period in his notice and therefore he was entitled to one month’s notice, not one week.
Legal comment
Jennifer Wright, associate in the employment team at Birketts, told Personnel Today that the case raised questions over neurodiversity and emotional intelligence. She said: “This case is a cautionary tale for both employers and employees about how small misunderstandings can escalate into conflict. The tribunal’s comments about Mr Habib being ‘ill-equipped to cope with the nuances of social interaction’ raise questions about neurodiversity, emotional intelligence, and the importance of employers putting in place clear workplace policies that facilitate understanding of expected behaviours and foster inclusion.”
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