Man wins unfair dismissal claim after being sacked for saying ‘top of the morning to ya’ in mock Irish accent

The engineering storeman was fired for saying to a colleague ‘top of the morning to ya’ in a mock accent.

An employment tribunal heard that whilst working at Wrexham’s Oscar Mayer ready meal manufacturing site last year, Karl Davies greeted his manager with the line in an Irish accent while listening to Irish music.

Manager, Scott Millward, was escorting a ‘red-headed’ external auditor when the remark was made and reported his colleague to the employer, who launched a probe into whether the comment was deemed racial harassment.

The 58-year-old was then dismissed the tribunal was told.

It was heard that the claimant repeated the phrase multiple times, with Judge Vincent Ryan accepting that he was ‘effectively channelling the musical vibe’.

Judge Ryan stated that the accent was adopted by Mr Davies in a ‘reprehensible’ and ‘mocking’ way, goading Mr Millward by repeating the phrase ‘in a manner that Mr Millward was bound to find irritating and embarrassing’.

He added that the claimant was trying to get on Mr Millward’s nerves, but said ‘the purpose was not to racially harass Mr Millward, and there is no evidence before me that it had the effect, either, on anyone’.

“It was nevertheless blameworthy as (Mr Davies) was subordinate to Mr Millward.

“It gave rise to the disciplinary proceedings and therefore contributed to the eventual sanction,” continued the Judge.

Further, the tribunal was told that the claimant did not know and had not seen the auditor, who is not known or believed to be Irish.

The tribunal ruled in favour of the claimant, stating that the chosen investigator was not ‘appropriate’, witness statements were inconsistent and the probe was ‘largely based on assumptions’.

“The claimant was accused of using an employment-ending, reputation damaging, loss-inducing, racially motivated slur, a slur which could have created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive working environment. These are serious matters,” he said.

“On the facts peculiar to this case, I found that the dismissal was unfair, which does not mean that I approve the use of the greeting in question or the use of mock accents,” concluded Judge Ryan.