A comment comparing you unfavourably to a colleague, using a racially loaded word, can be harassment, even if it wasn’t meant as an insult.
“One race harassmentUnwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic, such as your sex, race, disability, age or religion, that violates your dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile or humiliating environment... claim upheld over a comment about a colleague; other claims, including unfair dismissalA legal claim you can bring if your employer dismissed you without a fair reason or without following a fair process. You normally need two years of continuous employment to qualify, though some dismi..., dismissed.”
Intent doesn't decide this. A comment about your race, even one aimed at someone else, even one the person making it calls well-intentioned, can still be unlawful harassment if it humiliates you or makes your workplace feel hostile.
- Write down offensive comments as soon as you can after they happen, including exactly what was said and who else was there, even if the comment wasn't directly about you.
- Raising it as a grievance at the time, as this employee did, can matter later if you need evidence of what was said and when.
- Get advice before deciding which parts of a difficult workplace situation to pursue as formal claims. Not everything that felt wrong will meet the legal test, and knowing which parts do helps you focus your energy where it counts.
The situation
An employee was placed on a performance improvement plan. In the meeting, his manager compared his performance unfavourably to a colleague who'd recently left, a colleague the employee understood to also be black, saying the former colleague was older and would "run around like a little monkey to get things done." The employee found this deeply offensive. He raised it as a grievanceA formal complaint raised by an employee against their employer, triggering a legal obligation to investigate and respond., and resigned around two weeks later, bringing a wide range of claims including harassment, discrimination, whistleblowingMaking a disclosure about wrongdoing in your workplace, such as a health and safety risk, a criminal act, or a miscarriage of justice. If the disclosure qualifies as protected, the law gives you signi... detrimentAny action your employer takes that puts you at a disadvantage, short of dismissal. In a whistleblowing or discrimination context, being moved to a worse role, excluded from meetings, or given an unfa... and constructive dismissalWhen your employer's behaviour is so serious that you feel you have no choice but to resign, the law may treat that resignation as a dismissal. The most common basis is a fundamental breach of the imp....
What the tribunal found
The tribunal believed, after weighing conflicting evidence, that the comment was made. It accepted the manager hadn't meant anything racist by it: he was giving evidence, corroborated by his own cultural background, that the word doesn't carry the same connotations where he grew up, and that he intended it as a compliment to the absent former colleague's work ethic. The manager's intentions made no difference to what happened next. The tribunal found the comment related to race, because of the word's well-known connotations for a UK audience, and that it had the effect of violating the employee's dignity, whether or not that was the intention. That was enough to make it harassment under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010The main piece of legislation protecting employees from discrimination at work. It covers nine protected characteristics including age, disability, sex, race, and religion, and makes it unlawful for a.... Every other claim he brought, including his constructive dismissal claim, was dismissed as not well-founded.
Effect decides this, not intent. A comment that relates to a protected characteristicOne of the nine characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010 against which it is unlawful to discriminate. They include age, disability, race, sex, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. If yo..., race in this case, and that violates your dignity or creates a hostile or humiliating environment, can be unlawful harassment even when nobody meant it that way. It also doesn't have to be aimed at your own characteristic directly. This comment was ostensibly about someone else, made to compare you unfavourably to them, but because of what it implied and the effect it had on you as the person hearing it, it still counted.
Be realistic about what a single successful point can mean for the rest of your case, though. This employee brought many claims and only one succeeded. If you're in a similar situation, get advice early on which parts of your experience are likely to hold up as legal claims and which, however real they felt, may not meet the legal test. Get the right advice before you decide what to bring forward, rather than staying quiet.
Mr H Jones v Andros UK Ltd. Case 6002021/2024. Bristol Employment Tribunal. Reserved Judgment sent 31 July 2026.