Transport worker, 48, who was told to 'stop speaking Polish' at work by a 'rude' and 'aggressive' manager wins £9,000 in race discrimination claim

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A transport worker has won a £9,000 race discrimination payout after a manager aggressively told him to 'stop speaking Polish' at work.

Slawomir Rowinski was also told by 'rude' team leader Neil Wailes 'I'm really p****d off with people who do not speak English at work', an employment tribunal heard.

The 48 year old complained to bosses at logistics firm Kuehne + Nagel - arguing he only spoke in his mother tongue during breaks and when necessary to teach Polish trainees.

Polish transport worker Slawomir Rowinski, pictured, has been awarded almost £9,000 in compensation after he was discriminated against by his employer, Kuehne + Nagel at their depot in Reading, Berkshire

Mr Rowinski was tasked with training new employees, many of whom came from Poland. He would train them in English but would switch to Polish if someone was struggling to understand what was expected of them 

His complaints were rejected, with managers telling him Mr Wailes was 'within his rights' to tell him not to speak Polish at work due to the company's language policy.

But an employment tribunal ruled he was discriminated against due to his race, saying the way Mr Wailes had spoken to him could not be justified.

The father of one, who is originally from the city of Wroclaw in western Poland but has lived in the UK for the past 18 years, has now been awarded nearly £9,000 in compensation.

The tribunal heard Mr Rowinski worked as a team leader at Kuehne + Nagel's Acre Road site in Reading, Berkshire, having been recruited in part due to his language skills.

He had worked at the company since 2005, and the tribunal heard half the employees at his site were foreign nationals who didn't speak English as their first language.

The Reading tribunal heard company Kuehne + Nagel, who operate across the globe, enforce a policy stating the 'language of the business' is English.

The company's code of conduct states conversing in languages other than English, 'in some instances', can create an atmosphere which is 'exclusive' and 'potentially disrespectful of others'.

The tribunal heard Mr Rowinski worked as a team leader at Kuehne + Nagel's Acre Road site in Reading, Berkshire, having been recruited in part due to his language skills

The company accepted, however, that there were some circumstances - such as speaking with foreign delivery drivers from external companies - when using languages other than English was 'acceptable'.

The tribunal was told Mr Rowinski found it useful when training Polish employees with 'limited' English to check they'd understood what they'd been taught by speaking with them in Polish.

In July 2019, Mr Rowinski was training two new employees and, when one trainee experienced problems with an aspect of the training, he explained where he was going wrong in his native Polish.

The tribunal heard Mr Wailes approached the pair in an 'aggressive and hostile' manner and 'exploded' in a loud voice, speaking against the use of foreign language in work.

Mr Rowinski claims Mr Wailes, from Scotland, also said: 'I'm really p*****d off with people who do not speak English at work.'

Mr Wailes, on the other hand, said he only stepped in after another colleague asked Mr Rowinski to speak English during training.

Mr Rowinski submitted a grievance complaint over the incident, saying he had been given permission to use Polish when training in some circumstances.

The following month the hearing was told Mr Rowinski had been on his way back to his workstation after a break when he briefly stopped by the 'Goods In' window to speak to a colleague in Polish.

Employment Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto ruled that 'no such breach' of a company's language policy would justify the 'rude and aggressive way' Mr Wailes had spoken to him

He told the tribunal Mr Wailes - who he said speaks with a Scottish accent - again approached him in a 'rude and aggressive' manner and instructed him to 'stop speaking in Polish'.

The following day Mr Wailes delivered a briefing reminding staff of the language policy - 'practically shouting' with what Mr Rowinski described as a 'smile of satisfaction on his face'.

When he reacted to the way the briefing had been delivered, Mr Wailes told Mr Rowinski: 'So go away, you do not need to be here - off you go'.

During a grievance meeting in October, Mr Rowinski complained Polish workers at the company were being 'ignored'.

But the tribunal heard his grievances were rejected by bosses who even moaned about how long the process had taken and defended Mr Wailes, saying he was simply adhering to company policy.

The tribunal ruled: 'We doubt that a reasonable employer aware of the all the circumstances would view Mr Rowinski's action [speaking in Polish to the trainee] as a breach of the policy'

Mr Rowinski appealed, but this was similarly rejected.

Employment Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto ruled that 'no such breach' of a company's language policy would justify the 'rude and aggressive way' Mr Wailes had spoken to him.

'We are satisfied that this was a detriment.

'We doubt that a reasonable employer aware of the all the circumstances would view Mr Rowinski's action [speaking in Polish to the trainee] as a breach of the policy.

'In any event, even if he was in technical breach of the policy, no such breach of the policy would justify Neil Wailes speaking to him in a rude and aggressive way as he did.'

Judge Gumbiti-Zimuto also found there was 'no justification' for the delay in progressing Mr Rowinski's grievances, which took nearly three months to complete.

Mr Rowinski was awarded £8973.63 in compensation for race discrimination. Another claim of indirect race discrimination failed.