Asking a black person ‘what are you smoking' is racist, tribunal rules

Telegraph

17-04-2025

Asking a black person 'what are you smoking' is racist, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Employment Judge Rachel Wedderspoon said any 'reasonable person' would be offended by the remark due to the 'stereotypical view' of 'a black person with dreadlocks smoking drugs'.
Her ruling came in the case of Gemma Spencer, a black administrator who sued her employers for race discrimination and harassment after she was dismissed.
The admin worker told a panel that she had her hair in braids when director Mark Kelly asked her line manager if she had been 'smoking something' after they perceived she had made an error at work.
After she accused him of racism, Mr Kelly said he in 'no way meant to make some remark about her being a Rastafarian'.
Bosses argued Ms Spencer was 'hypersensitive' and had 'warped' the impact the phrase had on her.
But this assertion was rejected by Judge Wedderspoon, who said the comment was 'unwanted conduct' which 'violated the dignity' of Ms Spencer, who was awarded £35,109 in compensation.
'Treated differently'
The tribunal, held in Birmingham, heard that Ms Spencer joined Schneider Electric UK as a contracts administrator in September 2017.
In March 2020, she was asked by her bosses to carry out a quarterly report, but it was heard that the figures she inputted were deemed to be incorrect.
She told the tribunal her line manager, Carl Melia, spoke to her and said that Mr Kelly had telephoned him and asked 'what she was smoking'.
The panel heard that it then transpired the data Ms Spencer used in the report was correct and had been for some time, but she said she received no apology.
In July 2020, Ms Spencer submitted a formal grievance against the company, alleging that she was 'treated differently' because she was black and brought up the 'what are you smoking' comment in her complaint.
The following year, she raised another grievance against her bosses, detailing 59 complaints of pregnancy and maternity discrimination, direct race discrimination and harassment related to race, the majority of which were dismissed by bosses.
In June 2022, she was invited to a disciplinary hearing investigating a serious allegation of misconduct relating to her failure to complete timesheets and was handed a written warning.
'Disruptive and antagonistic'
Later that year, she was invited to a further disciplinary hearing after she sent an 'inappropriate and offensive' message to Mr Melia, who complained he could 'no longer tolerate' the 'seriousness of the entirely unfounded allegations this member of my team has made towards me' and her behaviour was 'disruptive and antagonistic'.
The complaint was upheld and in light of the two grievances raised against her, she was dismissed in July of that year.
She took them to an employment tribunal, alleging unfair dismissal, race discrimination, harassment related to race, victimisation and maternity discrimination.
During proceedings, the tribunal heard that at the time the 'smoking' comment was made, Ms Spencer had dreadlocks.
Upholding her claims of harassment relating to race, Judge Wedderspoon said: 'It was a comment based on a stereotypical view of a black person with dreadlocks smoking drugs.
'It was unwanted conduct which violated the dignity of [Ms Spencer] and it was related on race.'
Ms Spencer also won other claims of discrimination, harassment related to race, victimisation and pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Other claims made by the mother were dismissed.