Irish woman wins £23k in racial harassment claim after boss repeatedly shouted ‘potato’ at her
An Irish woman whose boss repeatedly shouted “potato” at her during a disagreement at work has been awarded £23,000 in harassment damages.
Bernadette Hayes, then 55, was working as an accountant at a civil engineering company in Leeds when she faced a “hostile, degrading and offensive” environment because of comments her employer Mick Atkins made about her race.
The court was told Mr Atkins, company director of West Leeds Civils Ltd, shouted “potato” at her “over and over again” in a strong Irish accent and also used language such as “paddy”, “silly paddy” and “p*key” in front of her.
Ms Hayes said the behavior, which took place over six months from the end of 2023, “makes me feel like I was killed by 1,000 cuts”.
The court heard Mr Atkins had previously occasionally mentioned her race, but his behavior escalated when another man, Marcus Smith, joined the company.
She said she felt “physically ill” when she entered the office and was “scared” of being mocked by the pair. She repeatedly told her boss she didn’t find the comments funny, but said she was “scared” to ask him to stop because he was a “scary, volatile character.”
“This has completely eroded my self-esteem and self-confidence,” he told the court. “It made me feel small, insecure, violated and extremely anxious. It also made me feel ashamed.”
Judge Sophie Buckley found that on a small number of occasions Ms Hayes had “participated” or referred to herself as a potato, but had done so “in an attempt to de-escalate the problem”.
Ms. Hayes had to be laid off in July 2024 after she suffered a panic attack and was unable to eat or sleep due to stress from her behavior, documents show.
“From a subjective point of view, this clearly created a hostile, humiliating and offensive environment for him,” Judge Buckley said. “In my view, taken as a whole, it is reasonable for an individual of Irish descent to find the repeated use of the terms “potato”, “Paddy”, “silly Paddy” and “p*key” offensive and derogatory.
These statements are clearly linked to race, especially when taken together rather than alone. “On this basis, I found that the behavior was linked to race.”
In its decision at the Leeds Employment Tribunal, it partially accepted claims of racial harassment and victimization but rejected the claim of racial discrimination.
Ms Hayes was awarded £23,526 in damages, including £13,000 for ‘injury to feelings’ and £6,104 for loss of earnings.
