A McDonalds branch in Birmingham has had to have its burger and eat it after the manger was caught on video discriminating against black employees. The manager, Mr Khela, cut the hours of the branch’s 20 black employees due to apparent underperformance. When confronted by an employee he insisted this was store policy. Mr Khela has since been sacked.
This case raises several interesting points. Firstly, the importance of making sure staff, particularly management, do not hold prejudiced views! McDonalds has now received massive negative publicity, damaged its relations with staff from BME backgrounds and has also left itself vulnerable to numerous discrimination claims.
Even in a company like McDonalds where staff often have less than two years’ service, poor management and blatant discrimination would still leave the company liable for discrimination claims as those claims do not require a minimum service threshold. Furthermore any staff who resigned as a result of the discrimination and having hours reduced could bring constructive discrimination claims.
Unfortunately racism is still an issue in for some people and therefore it is a matter that employers need to look out for as it will reflect very badly on them in tribunal if something similar were to happen.
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