An Indian man has won nearly 67,000 pounds in compensation after he accused his manager at a KFC outlet in London where he worked at of racial discrimination and wrongful dismissal. A tribunal which heard the matter ruled in his favour.
The man, identified as Madhesh Ravichandran, hails from Tamil Nadu. He started working at a KFC branch in London’s West Wickham in January 2023 where he alleged that his manager called him a “slave” and forced him to work for extra hours, the tribunal was told, reported BBC.
Two months after starting working at the fast food chain, Ravichandran said that he was denied his annual leave. He also heard his boss, identified as Kajan Theiventhiram, telling another staffer that he would prioritise staff who were Sri Lankan Tamil and referred to Ravichandran as “this slave”, the tribunal heard, according to the report.
Ravichandran resigned from his place of work months after he overheard the remarks and alleged that even though he raised the issue, no proper probe was done to determine what had happened.
As per a PTI report, the tribunal judge who heard the matter, Paul Abbott, found that refusal of Ravichandran’s leave request was “significantly influenced” by his race and that he was “upset and humiliated”. The judge also found that Ravichandran was a victim of racial discrimination and harassment related to race and was wrongfully dismissed.
Ravichandran’s evidence that he was forced to work extra due to his boss’ “racially prejudiced attitude” was accepted in the court and he was awarded £66,800 in compensation.
Apart from the compensation, the judge also recommended that all employees of Nexus Foods Limited, which operates the KFC branch where the incident happened, should receive a training programme about discrimination at the workplace.