A man has won £3,000 in a successful claim for discrimination after being turned down for a job with estate agents Barnard Marcus because of his African accent.
Shemi Leira, a 31-year-old Ugandan, has lived in the UK for 16 years and holds a certificate in mortgage advice and practice. He had previously worked in mortgages and sales.
He told a central London tribunal that he had applied to become a mortgage consultant last year at Barnard Marcus, which is part of the Connells group.
But after the interview, he says he was told the sound of his voice did not fit in with the company’s ‘sophisticated central London market’.
Mr Leira said he had been left feeling ‘sick, demeaned, violated and punished for no other reason than my racial background’.
He claims that in a hostile interview, he was subjected to an ‘intimidating, cynical and quite offensive’ barrage of questions about his African roots and his reason for living in the UK.
Mr Leira had attended a recruitment day where he was given a ten-minute interview by the then mortgage services development director, Andrew Goodchild.
The tribunal heard that Mr Goodchild allegedly said he would be in touch with Mr Leira, who lives in Battersea, south-west London, later that day.
When he was not contacted, Mr Leira emailed Mr Goodchild several weeks later and asked why he had been unsuccessful.
Mr Leira told the hearing that Mr Goodchild had replied that “he was concerned about my strong accent working in their sophisticated central London market.”
He added: “I was horrified that anyone could say such a thing, put it in writing and send it to the victim.”
Mr Goodchild denied racism. He told the tribunal that he had asked Mr Leira how long he had lived in London to assess his knowledge of the area, and had not focused on his ethic origin.
He said: “From 1999 to 2010, he had no sales experience whatsoever that was relevant to selling mortgages face-to-face in a highly pressured environment.”
But Judge Sigsworth ruled: “There might be no conscious racial discrimination there, but we feel that at the back of Mr Goodchild’s mind was that because the complainant was who he was, a black African with an African accent, he was not right for that role and therefore there was unconscious discrimination.”
After the case, a spokeswoman for Barnard Marcus said: “We are an equal opportunities employer which strives to ensure its recruitment process is fair and non discriminatory. We feel this is supported by the finding of Mr Leira’s employment tribunal that he had not been discriminated against by being refused the chance to progress in the recruitment process.
"The reasons for this were three-fold including his lack of sales experience and not scoring the minimum requirement in our aptitude test which every potential employee is required to take. The tribunal therefore stated that Mr Leira’s application would not have progressed in any event.
“The tribunal did, however, state that an email providing feedback to Mr Leira as to why the company would not be able to progress his application contained a discriminatory statement relating to his accent which the company accepts was wholly inappropriate.”
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Comments
The reality is that this interviewer was incapable of doing his job properly and mde a stupid mistake of possibly revealing personal prejudices.
If the gentleman was not suitable that should have been identified in the application. There are millions of British people unemployed and he decided to interview this person. \so his appliction must have matched the spec.
It is a fact that all of us may fall pray to the face does not fit the job. \\we do not often get told that and usually its not based on persons accent.
Absolutely spot on Rick!
Being from overseas myself, I find that some foreigners don't make an effort to improve their English. Although, in this case it is about accents, but I believe there is a strong correlation between communication skills, grammar, vocabulary and accents!
The guy has degrees in Law, Master in Law, PR, Certificate in Mortgage Practice and Advice, Journalism and He is qualified American Lawyer. In contrast Mr.Goodchild has no such qualifications. He has experience in with Barclays, Law, United Nations office of legal affairs, UK Central Government, advocacy, Met. Police Authority financial services etc...You see the drill.
And it is claimed that he has literacy skills and that ‘He(Andy Goodman) follows a horses for courses, square pegs for square holes policy ???
If we were to pursue this warped sense of archaic, nearndethalic and perverse course of reasoning, to its logical conclusion, all the surgeons, cardiologists, nurses, investors, French, Italians, Americans, etc.. That make this great city what it is, they would not be in their jobs and hence not be here.
Indeed the whole concept of the free movement of labour within the European Union would not happen.
And the majority of well-meaning good people whatever their background would not be working and living outside the UK.
So let's recognise injustice for what it is and nail it where it raises its evil head. We are all the same and should be judged by the content of our potential not colour or origin.
The Arch Bishop of york is originally from Uganda and does not speak with a west sussex accent. Presumably some people, the House of Lords,PM,Bishops understood him and hence the position he is in....
And Barrack Obama would not have been anywhere near he is and what a loss of talent to mankind.
- michael, Kingston upon thames,
Agent Orange......You have a very good point there.
On a number of visits to London over the last few years, it seems to me that the only language missing is a sophisticated English/British one......
Wai ai man, gizza job in ya posh London office man
I can sell owt to the lads up norff, so a can sell your poncy mortgages to geezers darn ere, no what I mean
Will that do as an application for Posh Property & Partners ???
I don't think they would give me the job either.......
Ace, the article didn't say his accent was the only problem, it said that in the last 10 years his experience was irrelevant (pretty critical when dealing with FSA exams etc), but that the job interviewer had stupidly told him his accent was too broad for their customer demographic.
So, the reason stated to the applicant was offensive, even if it was what the employer felt, but that the employer was daft to have said this when the candidate also allegedly had an inadequate CV.
Sales work involves a lot of phone usage. If the sales person has a very broad accent then fact is they are hard to understand to anyone not already used to that accent. When I am called from a remote call centre, whether in Scotland or India, it takes me a few seconds & sometimes longer to 'tune in' and understand. That is not at all beneficial in sales. I fully understand an employer in our industry feeling that, given the choice, they'd rather employ someone with a clear telephone voice. That is not racism, it is good business sense.
PS is it me or does the spam calculator ALWAYS ask for 14? mmmmmmmm that'll be a hard one to crack.
Really? Someone's natural accent is a blocking point?
So, you are saying that the knowledge they have, the grammar they can offer, written and verbally, and the ability to communicate with a client is irrelevant if they have an African accent?
If this person in question was not adequate for the job in terms of skills and experience, there would have been plenty of reasons that could have confirmed his application was unsuccessful. However, this article suggest the reason is down to his accent.
I don't think this is racism, just completely ignorant
Come on Ray, the 50s are over.
What a load of of ,,,, i have been to this company and they have staff from all walks fo life working with them , sound slike this bloke was not good enough to get the job and thought .. Hmmmm is it because i am not british .. i fancy some free money !!
Racism? Perhaps it was, but I think its also a clear case of 'face not fitting corporate image' & how do you say that tactfully? Fond memories of 'Rising Damp' show that people who are very black indeed may have very cultured Oxford English accents too. If the EA wants to restrict its staff to fit an image of cultured accents because that fits their business model, then in my opinion that's perfectly OK ... but needs to be communicated to applicants in a way which does not cause offence/distress. I might be naiive but probably had this applicant been as polished/cultured as that flatmate chappie in Rising Damp, and could also show good relevant experience, then unless the interviewer really was racist he'd probably have been a serious contender for the job. I rejected one girl pre-interview as her drawling voice (over the phone) sounded like she'd spent many years bucket-bonging marijuana. But the reason I gave her was that I had received a wealth of suitable applicants, some of whom had more relevant experience than she did. Her voice was beyond anything I would wish to impose on myself, my staff or my clients. I think she was white but she sounded rasta ....
AceofSpades:
Rubbish!
Of course how a person can communicates with ones particular type of client is important.
There is no need to say more.
“There might be no conscious racial discrimination there, but we feel that at the back of Mr Goodchild’s mind was that because the complainant was who he was, a black African with an African accent, he was not right for that role and therefore there was unconscious discrimination.”
Yikes, it's the thought police! A dangerous decision based on what the tribunal thought Mr Goodchild might be thinking (unconsciously). Tribunals should do better than this.
Mr G was a bit of a twerp for giving that reason anyway - if the applicant can be understood on the phone and face to face it should make no difference. He's have more of a problem with my Northern accent I think!
You cannot give your dislike for someone's accent as a reason for rejecting their job application.
By all means, he may have failed on other parts, but this is NOT an acceptable reason for rejection.
This suggests this is the only reason he was rejected. If there were plenty of other reasons for rejection, these could have been stated as feedback to applicant, in a professional and fair manner.
If any of you went for a job and were told that your appearance (or voice even) did not fit in with company policy and as a result you had been unsuccessful, you would certainly take further action.... and rightly so.
Barnard Marcus, "sophisticated". Do me a favour. Its a longtime since this firm where anywhere near sophistiacted.
Lets see, would he have got £3K in Uganda, or would a northerner in London in the same situation?? Me thinks not.
Most of this countrys 'discrimination' laws and 'human rights' legislation are downright insane. No wonder we are going down the 'plughole' more quickly every year.
Being offended means nothing ! People offend us all day long. Just deal with it. Being offended doesn't give you the plague, for heavens sake. The bloke should just GET OVER IT !
The next interview I attend I am going to pretend I have touretts and see if I can sue for discrimination when I tell them to f... off
:-) only a joke people
At least he wasn't bloody Mexican.
The clue was on his CV, should have done an initial telephone chat before asking for interview, its not racist, you have a choice.
Utterly ridiculous! As a recruiter myself it is important to find the right accent that goes with the job in hand. What is an interview process if not discriminatory? Should all the applications go in a tombola for fear of offending someone? It's the employers right to choose who they want for the job, not an applicants right to sue because they could do with a few quid because they suffer from poor self esteem.