Victor Stanley-Idum, a British civil servant with a Nigerian background, lost a racism lawsuit against the UK Ministry of Defence after he was disciplined for completing personal errands — including an Uber to the airport — during official working hours.
This was contained in a report by Leading Britain’s Conversation on Thursday.
Following his informal warning in 2021 for what was said to be a “casual attitude to working hours,” Stanley-Idum, a senior executive officer at the MoD, had accused his management of holding a stereotypical opinion that “Black Africans are lazy.”
However, an employment tribunal in the UK dismissed the case, siding with the MoD.
The tribunal heard during the COVID-era remote working time, Stanley-Idum was frequently absent, skipped meetings, and offered a variety of reasons for being away from his desk, including purchasing a vacuum cleaner and experiencing internet problems.
Following several absences, Sharon Docherty, his boss, set him on a rigorous schedule calling for daily duties and reporting of working hours.
However, the matter got more serious when he allegedly took an Uber to the airport during business hours, saying he was still working remotely in transit.
Later suing the ministry for racial harassment, disability discrimination and victimisation, Stanley-Idum claimed that racial preconceptions were causing him bullying and unjust treatment.
Employment Judge Tim Adkin, however, said there was no proof Docherty or the department harboured such opinions.
The judge said, “He was working remotely, as indeed were most of his colleagues.
There were a series of concerns raised about his output and it was difficult to monitor what [he] was working on.
There is evidence that he was taking time during the working day to do things that were unrelated to work.
We have not formed the impression based on all the evidence in this case that Mrs Docherty held a stereotypical view of black Africans being lazy or dishonest nor indeed that that was a widely held stereotype.”
His assertion that he worked from the back of an Uber was also deemed “unconvincing” by the tribunal, which also pointed out that he had promised to attend a team-building day at Sandhurst but had failed to do so.
All claims were dismissed.
The Telegraph reports that the proceedings, held virtually, revealed that Stanley-Idum began working at the MoD in April 2017 as an analyst before being elevated to project manager in the central transformation team in April 2020, one month following lockdown commencement.
