After his colleagues suggested that they have a meeting at Nando’s, a black investment banker sued him for discrimination.
Bastian Buhlmann was accused by George Gyimah of racism for ‘loving chicken was derogatory about black people’.
The £85,000-a-year Senior Vice President at Commerzbank also alleged Mr Buhlmann offered him poultry ‘as a reward in a jovial manner’ if he could have his window-facing desk.
An employment tribunal ruled that the comments were not made because Mr Gyimah is black, but because he likes chicken.
The panel said that his bank colleagues weren’t aware of any stereotypes of black people loving chicken, and dismissed his claims about race discrimination harassment and victimisation.
Bastian Buhlmann (pictured), George Gyimah’s coworker, was accused by George Gyimah of racism because he ‘loved chicken’ as a derogatory stereotype about black people.
In London, Mr Gyimah was informed that he joined Commerzbank in July 2018 to become Senior VP Financial Crime Quality Assurance.
Buhlmann is the Financial Crime Quality Assurance functional leader at the company.
The tribunal heard that he filed a grievance to his bosses February 2020, including allegations against Mr Buhlmann.
It said: “Bastian Buhlmann made comments that had a derogatory intent towards me on two occasions in the last four months.
The London hearing heard that Mr Gyimah joined Commerzbank in July 2018 to become Senior VP Financial Crime Quality Assurance (file photo).
“[He]Referred to my decision to eat fried chicken as a team lunch.
“[He]I was rewarded with chicken by the team in a friendly manner as they were discussing our new desk location.
Buhlmann claimed that during a October 2019 team lunch, there were long queues at all of the restaurants nearby except Nando’s.
He stated that he suggested going there as Mr Gyimah likes chicken and said words like: “Why don’t you go to Nando’s George, you like chicken.”
After Mr Gyimah was given a desk with a view in the office, Mr Buhlmann made another comment about chicken: “Give me your desk, and I will give to you chicken,” in November 2019.
Buhlmann denied that the second comment was made. He claimed that any reference to Mr Gyimah’s liking for chicken was because he had previously told them and not because of his black skin.
The tribunal heard that Jose Arevalo, Jose Gyimah, and Mr Buhlmann were on a work visit to Frankfurt’s head office in February 2019.
The panel ruled that his colleagues at the bank weren’t aware of any stereotypes about black people liking chicken and dismissed his claims for race discrimination harassment and victimisation. Pictured is the Commerzbank London Office
Mr Arevalo ordered chicken burgers from their hotel one evening. In a humorous statement, Mr Buhlmann said that Mr Gyimah ordered a chicken hamburger because he loves chicken.
Mr Buhlmann stated to the tribunal that Mr Gyimah mentioned his love for chicken several times in the workplace and provided an example of how he commented on his wife’s favorite chicken dinner.
Mr Arevalo recalls a conversation in which he was discussing a birthday dinner for a friend at a restaurant that had a buffet of buttermilk fried chicken. Mr Gyimah replied that he enjoyed chicken and asked for the name.
Bosses agreed that the comments were made by him because he liked chicken, not because of his black skin, and his grievance was dismissed.
Later, he resigned and took the German banking titan to a tribunal.
The tribunal acknowledged that there is a racist stereotype about black people liking fried chicken. It concluded that this was not related to the remarks made by Mr Gyimah.
Natasha Joffe, Employment Judge, stated that “none of the tribunal panels were aware of any stereotypes about black people and chicken per-se as opposed to fried.”
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t a stereotype. But we consider that it is not so well-known that a reasonable person could conclude Mr Buhlmann must have chosen Mr Gyimah talking about his chicken-loving tendencies because it played into a stereotype of black people.
“There was no relationship between race and Mr Buhlmann wasn’t aware of the stereotype that black people like chicken.
“He didn’t make the remarks because Mr Gyimah is black, but because he knew that he liked chicken.