Young waiter wins £13k payout after being shouted at for dropping apple crumble

A young waiter has won over £13,000 in a discrimination case after she was screamed and sworn at for dropping an apple crumble.

Daniesha Charles was just 15, working part-time at a hotel while completing a college course, when she faced a “tirade of abuse” for dropping the pudding.

A tribunal also heard that a chef scolded her for spelling “porridge” incorrectly and cruelly referred to her as “that” and “it”.

Ms Charles, who has dyslexia and is Black British Caribbean, won claims of direct discrimination and harassment relating to age, sex and race, as well as disability discrimination.

Edinburgh Employment Tribunal heard that Ms Charles was employed as a waitress at The Royal Thurso Hotel in the Scottish Highlands, earning £7 per hour, from May to June 2024.

She told the tribunal that she had depression, anxiety and dyslexia.

She was the youngest member of 14 staff at the hotel, most of whom were white British, and was the only Black female employee.

On a number of occasions she was present when the chef and the general manager, Andy Woodcock, were swearing and shouting at each other, the tribunal heard.

The pair were also heard swearing at the South African and Nepalese members of staff but at none of the white male employees, it was heard.

“From the outset of her working in the Thurso Hotel, [the hotel's] chef showed his contempt for [Ms Charles], as a young female person of non-white race, by continuously referring to her in the third person as 'that' and 'it', and by frequently shouting and swearing at her,” the tribunal heard.

This created an “intimidating and hostile” atmosphere, but since she did not want to jeopardise her work, she did not complain and put up with the insults while “suffering in silence”, the tribunal heard.

During Ms Charles’s first week, the chef shouted and swore at her when she had difficulty “holding an extremely hot plate without adequate hand protection”.

In May 2024, Ms Charles misspelled the word “porridge” on a breakfast order slip.

The chef shouted at Ms Charles “that’s not how you f***ing spell porridge”, the tribunal heard.

“[Ms Charles], who was a 15-year-old girl, found the chef’s conduct to be aggressive, intimidating and most upsetting.

“She also felt humiliated and embarrassed by the fact that the chef was sharing with all the fellow workers present her inability to spell the word porridge.”

On 26 June, Ms Charles had a plate of apple crumble knocked from her hand by a swinging kitchen door. She went back to the kitchen to tell the chef she had dropped the dessert, and to ask for a replacement.

“The chef cut [Ms Charles] off by shouting at her 'of course you did',” the tribunal heard.

She said that both the chef and Mr Woodcock “were in my face shouting and swearing at me”.

“She was so overwhelmed by the abuse which she received that she broke down crying and shouted back at her abusers to stop treating her in that way,” the tribunal heard.

The pair told Ms Charles to “get out”, and she went to reception to phone her mother, “incoherent but clearly very upset”.

It was heard that Ms Charles went home and never returned.

Her mother, Stacey Charles, complained about the treatment. On 30 June, Mr Woodcock emailed her to say “had we been aware of Daniesha’s anxieties and depressions before her employment we would not have put her into this style of environment”.

Mr Woodcock said: “The only option is for the hotel to finish her employment at this current time.”

At tribunal, Employment Judge Joseph d'Inverno said: “The conduct had the effect of violating [Ms Charles's] dignity and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading and humiliating and offensive environment for her.

“Objectively viewed, it was reasonable in the circumstances that [she] perceived the conduct as having that effect.”

The tribunal found that both the chef and Mr Woodcock “engaged in the conduct of shouting and swearing at female members of staff, young members of staff including [Ms Charles] who was the youngest, members of staff of non-white British origin, including [Ms Charles], and at [Ms Charles] who was disabled by reason of her severe dyslexia.

“The Tribunal has also found in fact that the chef and manager Andy Woodcock did not shout and swear at any of the male members of staff of white British origin and who were older than the Nepalese and Black South African male members of staff and were older than [Ms Charles].”

The employer was ordered to pay Ms Charles £11,500 in compensation for hurt to her feelings.

She was also awarded £516 in compensation because she was not provided with written particulars of employment, and £1,032 for lost wages.