‘Borat’ nickname was race discrimination

Case 4: The facts

Mr Ruda, a Polish quality assurance engineer, joined TEI Limited, an engineering construction company, in July 2007. He complained to the employment tribunal that fellow workers called him “Borat”, after the film and TV character created by Sacha Baron Cohen, claiming it amounted to direct race discrimination.

The ruling

The tribunal agreed that calling Ruda “Borat” amounted to unlawful racial harassment. The use of the nickname created a humiliating and degrading work environment for him. Somebody who shared all Ruda’s other characteristics but who was neither from Poland nor of Eastern European origin would not have been called “Borat”.

Therefore the choice of nickname was on grounds of Ruda’s race or nationality.

Commentary

As this is a decision of an employment tribunal, rather than the EAT, it is non-binding. Even so, it is a good illustration of the law in practice, and of the dangers of thoughtless nicknames.

Remember that a discrimination or harassment claim can be brought against both the employer and also individual fellow workers, who can be made jointly and severally liable with the employer for the whole or any part of a compensation award. The implications of this are looked at in London Borough of Hackney v Sivanandan & Ors (2011) .

Ruda v TEI Limited (unreported) August 2011