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Sikh lawyer wins racial discrimination case

LONDON MARCH 9. A London-based Sikh lawyer, Rajwinder Singh, has been awarded damages to the tune of £24,000 after an industrial tribunal ruled that he was racially discriminated against by his bosses in Camden Town Hall's legal department here.

Thirty-nine-year-old Mr. Singh was forced to leave his job in 2000 after three years of ``excellent work'', when he was bullied and harassed by his manager, Richard Gruet.

In its ruling, the tribunal named Mr. Gruet for racial discrimination against Mr. Singh. Although Mr. Gruet's boss, Ursula Taylor, was cleared of the discrimination charge, the tribunal said she was ``vindictive and spiteful'' towards Mr. Singh. Expressing his delight at the tribunal's decision, Mr. Singh said, ``I feel vindicated and hope this helps others. I wanted to show the little man can win''. His trouble started in December 1999, after he complained to his bosses that an outside solicitor, acting for Camden's opponents in a case he was handling for the council, had racially discriminated against him.

Instead of supporting Mr. Singh, Alison Lowton, Camden's borough solicitor in-charge of the legal department, wrote a letter to the other solicitor.

The tribunal ruled the letter ``adversely affected Mr. Singh's dignity at work, and destroyed his role as Camden's litigator in the ongoing case.''

The tribunal said: ``Neither Mr. Gruet nor Alison Lowton took Mr. Singh's complaint seriously. They were far more concerned about placating the opposing solicitor. Ms. Lowton said she had an `open door policy' where anyone in her department could talk directly to her but her door was closed to Singh.''

The tribunal said the internal investigation which dismissed Mr. Singh's complaints was ``flawed and a sham'', adding his managers closed ranks to show him in bad light. The investigation was used "to discredit Mr. Singh".

— PTI

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