Three Extertis employees racially harassed their Sikh colleague causing him to quit, an employment tribunal has heard. As reported by the Basingstoke Gazette, Glyn Smith, Stuart Smith and John Cleary were found to have bullied 36-year-old Kieran Sidhu when they worked together at technology distributors Exertis, based in Basingstoke.
The tribunal at the Southampton hearing heard how Sidhu, who is of Scottish and Indian descent, was branded the “only ethnic on the team” and a “temperamental Syrian immigrant” who was “f***ing for ISIS”. A colleague also located his Basingstoke home on Google Maps, likening his neighbourhood to war-torn Aleppo in Syria. The tribunal found that manager Matthew Rumsey showed “little interest” in Mr Sidhu’s complaints of bullying. `
In a statement, Exertis referred to the bullying a “unique case across a business of more than 1,800 employees”, and that it had taken “appropriate disciplinary action”, adding: “On this occasion it was clear that certain behaviours within a part of our business fell short of the standards we expect.”
