Matthew Weinreb, a business development manager, was dismissed from the company after making complaints about sexism and racism, including being called “princess”.
A tribunal found Weinreb’s sacking “was an act of victimisation” but dismissed a claim for harassment and discrimination.
The tribunal heard evidence of casual discrimination described by the respondent as “simply office banter which the claimant was happy to take part in”.
However, Weinreb complained and a grievance hearing in June 2019 was not upheld, “despite acknowledgement that many of the acts complained of did take place”.
He was then sacked. “The claimant was dismissed on grounds of alleged misconduct and was told that part of the reason for dismissal was that he had raised very serious issues of sexism and racism,” the judgment read.
The tribunal said: “Julia Feuell (managing director) was planning to give the claimant a warning for misconduct, notwithstanding she had not yet heard the claimant’s side of the story.
“The major factor which led to her dismissing the claimant instead of giving a warning was the fact that he had raised allegations of discrimination.”
This included the posting of images on WhatsApp implying Kenyan people were stupid. Fuell told the staff member to remove this, saying Weinreb was “supersensitive” at the time.
The tribunal said: “We find that the ‘banter’ often crossed the line of acceptable behaviour.”
“We note the claimant’s allegation that he was repeatedly ‘gaslit’ in that he was made to think incidents were his fault when that was not always the case, and we understand why he would feel like that in the light of much of the evidence before us.
“We find that Patricia Andrade’s (finance manager) interactions with the claimant were aggressive and, at times, unpleasant. We find that Julia Feuell protected Patricia Andrade generally.”
“In all circumstances, Julia Feuell consistently believed the evidence of Patricia Andrade over the claimant.
"However, we attribute this more to the loyalty between them due to working together over a long time than to the fact that they are white females.”
The grievance was brought “in good faith”, the tribunal found. “He was entitled to hold that belief, for example some of Patricia Andrade’s comments clearly had the potential to relate to the claimant’s perceived sexual orientation.”
Fuell had told him to bring the grievance “and therefore we are surprised that the respondent should argue that this was not the right course for him to follow”.
A spokesperson for OTT said: “The tribunal dismissed the claims for discrimination and harassment, but we were disappointed that the claims of victimisation were upheld. We shall be studying the judgement carefully.
“The Online Travel Group is fully committed to creating an inclusive working environment and we shall be conducting a review to ensure all our staff understand the importance of respect in the workplace.”
