Porsche salesman wins unfair dismissal

[wjwren]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9921621/P...


I've worked in a few dealerships and this laddish behaviour is rife. Take the ITV Big Boss programme the other week at Bristol Street the van bloke is the sort of people I worked with.

[Jamescrs]

I've worked in males dominated environments all my life and still do and I completely get the lad culture which develops in these environments but when it as blatantly racist as described in the article that goes way beyond crossing the line in my opinion

[bitchstewie]

That isn't laddish it's downright racist.

[Nurburgsingh]

well there's a reason to not spend any money with Pendragon

[Jimmy No Hands]

Having worked for both franchised and independent dealers the banter and lad culture is very prevalent. It's more or less synonymous with the industry in general. However, this just screams poor taste and blatantly racist.

[Earthdweller]

So he wins a claim then goes on to racially abuse and sexually harass another colleague and gets sacked

Article said :

However, Mr Rathod was later sacked on charges of race and sex harassment towards the white colleague - because he sent him racially offensive and misogynistic memes and jokes on WhatsApp

[ZedLeg]

Earthdweller said:

So he wins a claim then goes on to racially abuse and sexually harass another colleague and gets sacked

Article said :

However, Mr Rathod was later sacked on charges of race and sex harassment towards the white colleague - because he sent him racially offensive and misogynistic memes and jokes on WhatsApp

No it was the other way round, he joined in with the culture because he wanted to fit in. It affected his mental health so he brought it up with management, this is when he was fired for sending the joke. The court ruled this as unfair dismissal as the management ignored the wider culture of racism and misogyny in the office.

[Wilmslowboy]

I can’t believe anyone thinks it is acceptable to throw a banana at (in front) of his son.

[Candellara]

That was certainly the garage industry i left in the 90's.

I remember it well. Cable tying the YTS lads to the railings in the MOT viewing area and leaving them there all day, broom handle through the overalls and leave them suspended from the four post lift for an hour. Head first in the waste bins, re-wiring their car's horn to the brake circuit, replacing their rear number plates with new ones made up with **** or similar, placing a mackerel on their cars heater duct. Practical jokes played on each other most days. We also had quite a few customer cars written off due to the nature of test drives etc

Racist nick names, bullying, call it what you will was rife and certainly the norm. Total laddish culture and i can't think that it'll of changed that much. It was rare for females to be employed by the garage industry in the early 90's. I remember us having one of the first female apprentices in the UK.

Edited by Candellara on Wednesday 25th August 17:02

Edited by Candellara on Wednesday 25th August 17:03

Edited by Candellara on Wednesday 25th August 17:04

[XCP]

Sounds more like the 1970's to me.

[Carl_Manchester]

wjwren said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9921621/P...


I've worked in a few dealerships and this laddish behaviour is rife. Take the ITV Big Boss programme the other week at Bristol Street the van bloke is the sort of people I worked with.

i don’t know what to say, it’s just awful.

[Earthdweller]

ZedLeg said:

No it was the other way round, he joined in with the culture because he wanted to fit in. It affected his mental health so he brought it up with management, this is when he was fired for sending the joke. The court ruled this as unfair dismissal as the management ignored the wider culture of racism and misogyny in the office.

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

Earthdweller said:

ZedLeg said:

No it was the other way round, he joined in with the culture because he wanted to fit in. It affected his mental health so he brought it up with management, this is when he was fired for sending the joke. The court ruled this as unfair dismissal as the management ignored the wider culture of racism and misogyny in the office.

Reading between the lines here but it sounds to me like he was sacked because he complained about the racist behaviour and management wanted rid.
I know the article doesn't say that but it's a reasonable assumption to make if you follow the order of events.

[Jasandjules]

Maximus Decimus Meridius said:

Reading between the lines here but it sounds to me like he was sacked because he complained about the racist behaviour and management wanted rid.
I know the article doesn't say that but it's a reasonable assumption to make if you follow the order of events.

Almost undoubtedly.

[markcoznottz]

One of the few remaining 70’s trades to modernise. It’s the last trade you can get away with this stuff, even building sites have dropped it.

[Candellara]

markcoznottz said:

One of the few remaining 70’s trades to modernise. It’s the last trade you can get away with this stuff, even building sites have dropped it.

I think you'd be surprised. This sort of behaviour is still very much rife throughout British industry and indeed, offices have problems of their own. Not that long ago, an office i was working at had a lady that was referred to as the "office bike" and on a recent intimate occasion, she'd had an unfortunate "episode" with a male colleague. Several weeks later a loads of "lads" thought it'd be funny to wear t-shirts to the office with a certain Cadbury's logo on them that they'd had printed. Quite shocking really. They obviously thought it was highly amusing but again, shows that this laddish culture is still rife even in offices.

As an aside, Just go to any lap dancing club or brothel in any major cities where there are expo halls - the brothels and lap dancing clubs are full of "office lads, City boys, salesman etc" pissed or drugged up and enjoying themselves. Laddish culture is woven into the fabric of most British industry.

Although big inroads have been made, I don't think there'll ever be a time where there's not racism, laddish cultures, sexual harassment, inequality, lack of diversity, bullying in the workplace. Yes, the workplace may have moved on from Pirelli calendars hanging off the wall in garages but we've had situations where pictures have been taken of female staff and shared online, inappropriate sexual comments etc All these behaviours will take decades to change or temper.

[neilr]

I used to work on a garage forecourt when i was at college. Local dealer that also sold petrol, i was the oik behind the till. Everyone there always treated me well but I could see what some call the laddish behaviour going on in the actual dealership and workshop (see a previous post re the guy working in a dealers in the 90's). I remember thinking "what a total bunch of wkers" and hoped to never be anything like them. Somewhat disapointing but not suprising that they weren't an isolated bunch.

To use the phrase laddish or lad-culture is to exuse it and give it that "oh its just a bit of fun, boys will be boys" excuse, which is of course horsest. In the workplace it is another form of bullying. Laddish is just another way of saying wkers IMO.

[Tin Hat]

markcoznottz said:

One of the few remaining 70’s trades to modernise. It’s the last trade you can get away with this stuff, even building sites have dropped it.

Totally, if I ever saw this abusive behaviour in our building firm we would sack the offenders immediately. I am flabbergasted that the dealership allowed this cancerous culture to take hold, it says an awful lot about their management team.

I hope the guy gets a hearty payout, that will be one of the few penalties they will understand.

[anonymous-user]

Candellara said:

markcoznottz said:

One of the few remaining 70’s trades to modernise. It’s the last trade you can get away with this stuff, even building sites have dropped it.

I think you'd be surprised. This sort of behaviour is still very much rife throughout British industry and indeed, offices have problems of their own. Not that long ago, an office i was working at had a lady that was referred to as the "office bike" and on a recent intimate occasion, she'd had an unfortunate "episode" with a male colleague. Several weeks later a loads of "lads" thought it'd be funny to wear t-shirts to the office with a certain Cadbury's logo on them that they'd had printed. Quite shocking really. They obviously thought it was highly amusing but again, shows that this laddish culture is still rife even in offices.

As an aside, Just go to any lap dancing club or brothel in any major cities where there are expo halls - the brothels and lap dancing clubs are full of "office lads, City boys, salesman etc" pissed or drugged up and enjoying themselves. Laddish culture is woven into the fabric of most British industry.

Although big inroads have been made, I don't think there'll ever be a time where there's not racism, laddish cultures, sexual harassment, inequality, lack of diversity, bullying in the workplace. Yes, the workplace may have moved on from Pirelli calendars hanging off the wall in garages but we've had situations where pictures have been taken of female staff and shared online, inappropriate sexual comments etc All these behaviours will take decades to change or temper.

There is nothing wrong with laddish behaviour.

There is everything wrong with racist and sexist behaviour.

Having worked in many places over the years, I can safely say the UK is far, far ahead of the likes of Germany (lived there many years), South Africa (no surprise), the USA (again no surprise) and a host of others especially when it comes to racism.

[jdw100]

Tin Hat said:

Totally, if I ever saw this abusive behaviour in our building firm we would sack the offenders immediately. I am flabbergasted that the dealership allowed this cancerous culture to take hold, it says an awful lot about their management team.

I hope the guy gets a hearty payout, that will be one of the few penalties they will understand.

That’s interesting to learn.

I thought building work would be the last bastion of sexism/racism.

I wonder what IT is like?

A mate of mine one a decent pay-out prior to a tribunal. Was board level HR for tech firm.

CEO slowly brought in mates from public school. Went from a decent leadership team to an old-boys club with incredibly juvenile humour.

Making comments about junior female staff. My mate had, to put things in writing to them - her colleagues - as she felt they were putting the company at risk.

Final straw came when she had several board meetings where strategies had been agreed….at the weekend on a golf course. Or after-hours in a bar.

They knew she had a child and is a single mum. Plus hadn’t invited her, mentioned it at all, or enquired whether she played golf or wanted to go to pub.

Sexist, racist…one had the opinion that all women were just after men’s money; not an opinion he kept to himself. In a modern tech firm…who’s employees were 40% female.

(Plus thinking wearing red. or yellow trousers is acceptable attire for a grown man.)

She is no shrinking violet. Tough lady from oop North.

In the end felt she was putting her career and reputation at risk, shareholders were not being well served and she was clearly being excluded.

Their barrister advised them to settle out of court - she had emails from her time there and copies of her correspondence advising them re risk from their policies and behaviour.

Decent settlement.

Worse than a building site then….