Jones was a 16-year-old worker in his first job. Of mixed race, he joined a workforce that had never before employed anyone from an ethnic minority. His co-workers subjected him to appalling levels of racist abuse and degradation. He was called racially offensive names such as “chimp” and “monkey”, two employees whipped him on the legs with a piece of welt and threw metal bolts at his head, one burnt his arm with a hot screwdriver and later they grabbed his arm and tried to put it on a lasting machine. After four weeks he left the job. His employers tried to argue that they were not responsible, because they would never have condoned or authorised such behaviour by their staff. The Court of Appeal held that this was irrelevant. In an important ruling, the Court confirmed that discrimination that takes place during the course of employment is always the employer’s responsibility, unless reasonable steps have been taken to stop it.

Raymondo Jones v The Tower Boot Company Limited [1997] IRLR 158