Black worker who was asked 'what are you smoking?' after making 'error' is awarded £35,000 as...

Asking a black person 'what are you smoking?' is racist, an employment tribunal has ruled. Her ruling came in the case of Gemma Spencer, a black administrator who sued her employers for race discrimination and harassment after she was sacked. Ms Spencer said she had her hair in braids when director Mark Kelly asked her line manager if she had been 'smoking something' after they perceived she had made an error at work.

After she accused him of racism, Mr Kelly said there was no racial element to it and he in 'no way meant to make some remark about her being a Rastafarian'. Bosses said Ms Spencer was 'hyper-sensitive' and had 'warped' the impact the phrase had on her. But this assertion was rejected by Judge Wedderspoon, who said the.



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