A florist has lost her employment tribunal case after a Muslim colleague allegedly made “gagging noises” while she ate a ham sandwich.
Amanda Smith, who is White British, brought the case against her employer, Van Arthur Flower Group, which has a shop in Harrow, London, following the alleged incident in November 2022.
Ms Smith claimed that she had taken a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch one day when her colleague, Sadie Shefedun, began to make “gagging gestures”, before covering her mouth with her headscarf and walking out the room.
Watford Employment Tribunal however dismissed each of her claims.
The tribunal heard that Ms Shefedun did lift her headscarf to her mouth and “left the room quickly” when Ms Smith was eating her lunch, which gave “the appearance of somebody who believed that they were feeling sick”.
Employment Judge Patrick Quill however concluded Ms Shefedun was not pretending to be sick and her actions were not related to race.
“There are no facts from which we could conclude that Ms Shefedun’s actions were related to her own race or to the Claimant’s race,” the judge said.
“Even based on the assertion that the claimant asks us to draw, that Ms Shefedun covered her face and left the room because the claimant was eating a ham sandwich, that does not imply that Ms Shefedun did those things because the claimant was White British, or because the claimant was a different race to Ms Shefedun.”
The employment tribunal dismissed each claim put forward by the florist
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The judge added that it is “not the case that what one employee eats in the workplace will never be the subject of comment from colleagues”, referencing dietary restrictions and religious beliefs.
He said: “It is well known – and it is reasonable to expect an employee to know – that various religions have some restrictions on what types of food should be eaten.
“Some people have restrictions on what they can/will eat because of a philosophical belief that is not a religious belief. In addition, some people have restrictions on what they can eat because of health reasons, which could be because they are seeking to lose weight or could be because of an allergic reaction, possibly a severe allergic reaction in some cases.
“In other words, it is not the case that what one employee eats in the workplace will never be the subject of comment from colleagues.”
The tribunal heard Ms Shefedun had started working at the florists in September 2022, six months after Ms Smith, and the pair “did not have a harmonious working relationship”.
Ms Shefedun claimed Ms Smith had made “racial remarks about my Islamic faith” as she wore a headscarf and did not speak fluent English, though the boss claimed to not have heard or seen anything.
In another allegation put forward to the employment tribunal, Ms Smith claimed in December 2022, Ms Shefedun had deliberately placed a bucket behind her so she would fall over if she were to step back.
She further alleged Ms Shefedun had on several occasions broken flowers she had prepared.
Both claims were rejected by the tribunal judge.
Judge Quill said: “As we said in the findings of fact, we accept Mr Sri’s [the company’s director] evidence – as someone who worked in the shop for 10 years – that it was not unusual for flower arrangements to be broken after they had been prepared, and before they were sent out for delivery, or collected, or purchased.
“As we said in findings of fact, there is insufficient evidence that Ms Shefedun deliberately broke anything which the Claimant had made.”
“There are no facts from which we could conclude that any breakage was connected to either the claimant’s race or to anybody else’s race,” the judge added.
Ms Smith had a disagreement with her boss over shift patterns in March 2023 and he determined “the relationship as over”, asking her to return her key to the flower shop which he then received.
The employment tribunal concluded that all claims made by Ms Smith had been “unsuccessful”.