After sharing a golliwogs photo with colleagues, a council worker was fired. She then made a racist dig about Meghan Markle and compared Serena Williams to a monkey.
Jane Copley, a 55-year-old housing support officer, claimed she was just trying to fit in with ‘usual office banter’ when she shared the image saying it was the ‘future of the Royal Family’ to her Rochford District Council colleagues in Essex.
An employment tribunal heard that Serena Williams also compared Serena Williams with a monkey, telling a joke about Serena Williams’s home decor being ‘tyres & fruit’.
Following complaints from colleagues, Mrs. Copley was fired for gross misconduct in January 2020.
She sued the council for discrimination based on age, disability, and unfair dismissal.
However, a panel of employment tribunal judges dismissed her claims.
Jane Copley sent a picture of golliwogs to council colleagues claiming it to be the ‘future of the Royal Family, an employment tribunal was told
Mrs Cpley also made a joke about Serena Williams’s home decor being ‘tyres & fruit’ and compared her to a monkey.
The hearing heard that Mrs. Copley was originally employed by the council as a personal assistant in January 1991, before she was promoted to housing options support officer in February 2018.
The panel heard that six of her colleagues raised a collective grievance in June 2019 after becoming ‘concerned’ and ‘angry’ about her behavior.
The formal complaint also included allegations that she had shown them racism at work, bullying allegations, and accusations of undermining, manipulating, and demeaning coworkers.
Her ‘drip drip effect’ was also affecting people’s enjoyment of their work or their well-being, the complaint stated. Some even claimed they were losing sleep because of the atmosphere she created.
Mrs Copley said that the complaint was a witch hunt to get her out. She believed the six staff members had conspired together to create a false grief.
Angela Law, assistant director of Legal and Democratic at Council, investigated the complaint.
The tribunal heard that one complaint was about an incident which occurred shortly after the Duchess had announced her pregnancy.
Ms Law was informed:[Mrs Copley]I showed colleagues a photograph of a group olfogs and stated that it was the Royal Family, several decades later.
“[She] also told a “joke” about Serena Williams’ minimal style of decoration being tyres and fruit, the aim was to liken her to a monkey.
“Some staff were particularly offended at the material.”
Ms Law asked the staff members about the banter in the office, and whether it contained a racial component. However, they all denied sharing such material.
They claimed that work banter’ was based on love, family, and television.
Ms. Law informed Mrs. Copley about the complaint, June 28, 2019.
Three days later Mrs Copley began a long-term illness citing anxiety, depression and fatigue. She never returned to work.
The tribunal heard the complaint had ‘upset and triggered a significant bout of anxiety and depression’, she had been left ‘horrified’ to receive the grievance and thought it ‘portrayed her as some kind of monster’.
In her answers, Mrs. Copley admitted that she had seen the racist material.
After Mrs Copley claimed a photo of golliwogs as the ‘future Royal Family’, her colleagues filed a formal complaint.
She said she was “doing it against my better judgment to try to join in” with the “usual office banter”.
She did not continue to share examples of racist material with colleagues.
Mrs Copley filed the unfair dismissal complaint because she felt the council had not made reasonable adjustments for her anxiety or depression.
Samantha Moor, Employment Judge, dismissed her claims.
She said, “It was plainly offensive conduct: Sharing material that was unarguably racism. The employer could reasonably conclude that it was not ‘mild’ as [Mrs Copley]Had alleged that by sharing this kind of material, a racist attitude had been revealed.
“It was reasonable, too, for the council not to forget that it served public and expected high standards of conduct.
“For this reason it had to have a zero tolerance approach towards racism.