A shop manager falsely accused
colleagues of making racist claims that Meghan Markle shouldn’t have married
Prince Harry because the Royal Family should be ‘pure’, a tribunal heard.
Charles Iseki made a string of
unfounded allegations against his co-workers during a tribunal where he was
suing his employer for wrongful termination.
Mr Iseki, manager of a
McColl’s convenience store, was described as ‘rude’ and ‘aggressive’ by
employees who complained about his constant accusations and threatening
behaviour.
He even once hung up on a
social worker, who was trying to explain why one of his female employees needed
time off to go to Great Ormond Street Hospital as her child needed life-saving
surgery.
The shop manager was dismissed
in July 2019 for inappropriate and threatening behaviour
Mr. Iseki, a black Nigerian,
took McColl’s to an employment tribunal, alleging a string of race
discrimination claims, but most were dismissed after a judge ruled he ‘treated
his staff very badly’.
Shop manager Charles Iseki
accused colleagues of making racist claims that Meghan Markle shouldn’t have
married Harry because the Royal Family should be ‘pure’, a tribunal heard
However, he is in line to
receive compensation as he won one of his claims of race harassment against two
colleagues, relating to one offensive comment.
The East London tribunal, held
in Croydon, heard Mr. Iseki was the manager of the McColl’s convenience store in
Blackheath, London.
He claimed shop assistant
Christopher Richardson was ‘racist from the outset’ and claimed he heard him
tell other members of staff that ‘he hates black people’ on a regular basis.
Mr. Iseki told the tribunal
that multiple members of staff had complained about Mr. Richardson being racist,
but the tribunal found there was no evidence of this.
He claimed to have had a
meeting with Mr. Richardson to specifically talk about racism, but the tribunal
also saw no evidence of this.
Mr. Iseki claimed in December
2018 Mr. Richardson said that ‘Meghan Markle should not have married Prince
Harry’.
Mr. Iseki said he later told
area manager James Coomber about Mr Richardson’s alleged comment, and that Mr. Coomber ‘expressed his agreement with the sentiment and said that the Royal
family should be kept pure’.
The tribunal found Mr
Richardson and Mr Coomber did not make any racist comments about the Royal
Family.
