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Brum Council Racism Verdict 1

SACKING CALL AFTER COUNCIL LOSES RACISM APPEAL

27-11-2007

Senior managers and elected representatives involved in the unfair and racist dismissal of Birmingham City Council worker Paul Samuels should be sacked according to an anonymous e-mail circulated to all 120 of the city’s councillors.

Samuels lost his job in 2005, and last month the Court of Appeal (see link here) upheld the original Employment Tribunal verdict that he’d been unfairly dismissed and was both victimised and subject to racial discrimination (see link here)

Now an online agitator is attempting to stir councillors into action, saying “there is ethical and legal duty on you not to take advice from anyone who have treated Mr Samuels unlawfully or from anyone ... managed by those who have treated Mr Samuels unlawfully.”

It goes on to accuse the Council of consigning Samuel’s children to poverty, and says, “Some people are directly responsible for Mr Samuel’s unlawful treatment and other senior people are responsible for not preventing his unlawful treatment.

“They are all equally accountable and must all be suspended, disciplined and sacked.”

It continues: “Not to suspend and discipline and sack these people will be further evidence of the Council willingness to continue to discriminate against a lowly graded African Caribbean man whilst protecting those who racially discriminated and treated him unlawfully.

“This would be contempt for the law and contempt for African Caribbean people.”

The city’s Chief Legal Officer Mirza Ahmad has already written to every councillor warning that the email – sent last Thursday – is “highly incorrect and grossly misleading in a number of material respects.”

Ahmad points out that although his assistant director David Tatlow was found to have victimised Samuels, no individual council officer has been found guilty of racial discrimination.

He suggests there won’t be any further appeals in the case, but advises councillors not to enter into correspondence with the anonymous emailer who uses the code name “Sack Race Discriminators”.

Should anyone face disciplinary action for Paul Samuels’ unfair dismissal and the findings that he was victimised and subject racial discrimination?