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Tribunal rules Sikh policeman discriminated, awards ₤70,000
WSN Bureau
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Virdi has no plans for a career change. Rather, he sees himself
as an agent of change in the force. He wants to stay in the Met
to help improve the career prospects of ethnic minority officers |
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 LONDON: A Sikh
policeman has been awarded 70,000 pounds in compensation in Britain
for being denied a promotion after he took legal action against the
police force accusing it of racial discrimination. The case
highlights the struggle faced by ethnic minority officers to rise
through the ranks.
An Employment
Tribunal ruled in October Det Sgt Gurpal Virdi, 48, was victimised
when he was turned down for promotion to detective inspector in 2005
by the Metropolitan police.
It found his
application was treated ''less favourably'' as he had taken previous
legal action against the Met. The tribunal's judgement ruled he had
been victimised but dismissed his race claim.
In 2000, Virdi
received 240,000 pounds in compensation after a separate tribunal
declared the Met had racially discriminated against him.
He had been
sacked after being wrongly accused of sending racist hate mail to
fellow police officers at Hanwell police station.
The tribunal has
this time awarded Virdi 8,779 pounds for injury to feelings, and
61,620 pounds for loss of earnings and pensions. The Met has
appealed against the ruling.
Virdi brought
the case after he was rejected for promotion to detective inspector
in 2005. In 2000 he sued the Met after he was accused of sending
racist hate mail from a police station in Ealing, west
London, and
sacked. It was claimed he mounted a hate mail campaign by sending
two batches of letters between December 1997 and January 1998.
The letters were
sent via the Met's internal mail system to ethnic minority officers,
including the officer himself, telling them to quit the force. Each
envelope carried a picture of a black man's face and the initials of
the National Front.
Det Sgt Virdi
fought to clear his name and claimed the culprits, who have never
been caught, had used his computer log-in to produce the letters. He
won substantial damages and an apology from the Met in 2002 after he
was cleared by an employment tribunal of any wrongdoing.
But his victory
was not without cost and he believes it has dogged his promotion
chances within the force. "My career has been dead since '97," the
BBC quoted him as saying.
"I took the Met
on for racism and they have not forgotten it. I'm still doing the
same job as sergeant since I was suspended so I've not been working
to my full potential."
Since returning
to the force, he has been assigned to the Serious Crime Directorate,
working on community safety initiatives.
"Basically, if
you challenge the organisation, you're finished."
But he says he
has no plans for a career change. Rather, he sees himself as an
agent of change in the force. "I want to stay in the Met to help
improve the career prospects of ethnic minority officers."
The Met, while
disappointed with the tribunal's findings, insists it will continue
to help Det Sgt Virdi with his promotion bid.
It said in a
statement: "Mr Virdi remains a valued member of the [Met] and we
will continue to provide him with the appropriate support to meet
his professional development needs, as we do with all of our staff."
Det Insp
Mukhtiar Singh, chairman of the Met's Sikh Association, said Det Sgt
Virdi had "exposed some of the truths behind police promotion
systems". "Many black and ethnic minority officers continue to find
it difficult to be posted within specialist posts and get promoted,"
he said.
"We do not want
special treatment only equal opportunities. To many of us the Met is
still just a closed shop. It's like the TV drama Life on Mars, with
outdated attitudes. He said that despite several public inquiries on
race-related issues in the Met, "it would be naive to think that
this case will change anything substantially".
"I fear that
Gurpal will continue to be victimised," he said. "It is difficult to
gain confidence in the community when we are treating our own in
this way."
4
June,
2008
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