Black lawyer who sued council after co-worker sent ‘racy’ holiday picture of naked Brazilian samba dancer to work WhatsApp chat wins race harassment case

A black lawyer has won a racial harassment case after a colleague posted an “obscene” photo of a naked Brazilian samba dancer in a group chat at work.

Rochelle Tapping filed a complaint after Cecilie Booth shared the photo while on holiday in Rio de Janeiro.

The court heard Ms Booth, Peterborough City Council’s former finance manager, decided to send pictures of the samba lesson to Peterborough City Council’s Corporate Leadership Team WhatsApp chat.

Ms Booth sent a photo of a black female performer who was seen ‘showing off her buttocks’ and wearing only “a plume of green feathers coming out of her head”.

“Brazilian samba is a bit suggestive,” Ms. Booth wrote in the chat.

Ms Tapping, Director of Legal and Governance, was the only black person in the WhatsApp chat and said the photo of the ‘exposed’ dancer created a ‘degrading environment’ for her.

In a separate incident, Ms Tapping complained that the council’s Chief Executive, Matthew Gladstone, introduced her to a new black colleague and asked if they were ‘friends’.

Ms Tapping successfully sued Peterborough City Council after the employment tribunal found both incidents amounted to racial harassment.

The senior lawyer, who was later dismissed, is now in line to receive compensation.

Ms Tapping started working for Peterborough City Council in November 2022 as Director of Legal and Governance as well as monitoring officer.

The court heard he was the first and only black person appointed as a monitoring officer on Peterborough City Council.

While working for the council he was told he had failed to comply with the terms of his probation and that an investigation would be carried out into his level of performance. Following a review, his contract was terminated in August 2023.

He said he had been subjected to several incidents of racist abuse during his time in employment, including the samba photo of Ms Booth in April 2023.

The court heard:'[Ms Tapping] He was the only black member of the WhatsApp group; in fact, all the others were white.

‘The woman in the first photo appears naked at first glance, except for the green feathers coming out of her head.

‘The woman was photographed from behind.

‘Her long hair hides the fact that she is actually wearing a carnival costume; her hips, legs and thighs are on display.

‘Women are at the forefront; In the background are the lower halves of five seated people, four of whom are white and at least one of whom appears to be an old woman.

‘There is at least one other woman and judging by her clothes she looks much younger.

‘None of their faces are visible in the photo.

The court heard Ms Booth was on holiday in Brazil and attended Samba dancing lessons and “joked self-deprecatingly” about this.

They continued:'[The council’s lawyer] emphasizes that these are not random images downloaded from the internet and that this could reasonably be understood by the WhatsApp group; [Ms Tapping]It was learned that the woman in question was performing at a show organized for tourists.

‘However, Ms Booth, who forwarded the first photograph, noted the performer’s scanty attire and wrote: “Brazilian samba is a bit suggestive”.

In February 2023, Council president Mr Gladstone was heard introducing Ms Tapping to a new colleague, interim legal head Adsuwa Omoregie.

Mr Gladstone asked Ms Tapping if they ‘were friends’.

Ms Tapping said she believed Mr Glastone “saw two black people”. [people] ‘He thought we were friends talking together when we sat together’.

Labor Judge Roger Tynan, sitting in Cambridge, ruled that the WhatsApp messages sent from Ms Booth and Mr Gladstone’s comments amounted to harassment.

Judge Tynan said: ‘As for the picture, we accept that Ms Tapping was the only black member of the WhatsApp group.

‘In our judgment, this, combined with the image’s focus on the black artist’s exposed buttocks, rather than, for example, her abilities (or otherwise) as an artist or dancer, leads us to conclude that the image can be said to be racially relevant and that it is ultimately reasonable for Ms Tapping to feel that this creates a degrading environment for herself and black women generally.

‘There was [Ms Tapping] We think that if we were the only woman in an all-male WhatsApp group, the photo’s potential to cause aggression would be more easily recognized.

‘While we do not think the upset it has caused her is particularly significant, we think it disturbs her perception of what it is and should be to be a successful professional black woman and we therefore uphold the complaint.’

Judge Tynan accepted that it was not ‘intended’ by Ms Booth to be an offensive message and was meant to be a ‘light-hearted’ message about her holiday. But he said the image itself was harassment and, despite his intentions, it would still upset Ms Tapping.

Judge Tynan also ruled that Mr Gladstone’s comment that Ms Tapping was befriending the new black employee amounted to racial harassment.

Judge Tynan said: ‘While we are satisfied that Mr Gladstone’s intention was not to violate Ms Tapping’s or Ms Omoregie’s dignity or to create an adverse environment for them, there is no evidence that he corrected himself at the time or clarified what he meant by his question.

‘It felt like both Ms. Tapping and Ms. Omoregie assumed the two black female professionals knew each other.

‘In our opinion, there is no reason for this’ [Ms Tapping] and Ms. Omoregie must have understood that Ms. Omoregie had in mind whether she had any previous professional connections that might have led to her joining the City Council.

“Ultimately, we conclude that it is reasonable for her to be offended by this comment because of the implicit suggestion, as she perceived it, that two black women in senior roles should know each other, alternatively that Ms Omoregie was not employed by this company.” [Ms Tapping] ‘It’s all about merit.’

Ms Tapping made a number of other allegations but they were all rejected.

Compensation will be determined later.