Teenage waitress who was on £7 an hour wins more than £13,000 after being shouted at for dropping an apple crumble

A teenage waitress has won more than £13,000 in compensation after she was screamed and sworn at for dropping an apple crumble.

Daniesha Charles was only 15 and working part-time at a Highland hotel when she was hit with a 'tirade of abuse' from the chef and the general manager for the incident.

She was scolded by the two men who 'got in her face' and swore at her.

An employment tribunal has now ruled the dyslexic worker, who is black British Caribbean, was discriminated against because of her age, sex, race and disability and awarded her the payout of £13,048.

The now 18-year-old, who suffered from depression and anxiety, was employed at the Royal Thurso Hotel from May to June 2024 earning £7 an hour.

At the age of 15, she was the youngest and the only black female staff member among the mainly white, British workforce.

The Edinburgh tribunal was told Ms Charles was on a full-time education college course at the time, studying three days a week.

But she missed out a chunk of the course in May that year because of her shifts and informed her bosses the following month she wanted to work less.

Daniesha Charles has won more than £13,000 in compensation after she was screamed and sworn at for dropping an apple crumble at the Royal Thurso Hotel in Scotland

The hearing was told she had witnessed the chef and the general manager, Andy Woodcock, swearing and shouting at each other with the pair also having a go at the South African and Nepalese members of staff but not at the white male workers.

It heard that the chef had shown his contempt for Ms Charles's race and gender 'from the outset' by continuously referring to her as 'that' and 'it', and 'by frequently shouting and swearing at her'.

Although it created an 'intimidating and hostile' atmosphere, she did not want to jeopardise her position by complaining and suffered the insults 'in silence'.

The tribunal heard: 'On or about the third week of the month of May 2024, [Daniesha] having taken a breakfast order from one of the guests which included porridge had misspelt the word porridge in the order slip which she passed to the Chef.

'When the Chef read the order slip he shouted at [Daniesha] "that's not how you f***ing spell porridge".

'[Daniesha], 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.'

The tribunal was told that on June 26, Ms Charles had been carrying dessert to a table she was serving when the kitchen swing door knocked it from her hand.

It heard: '[Daniesha] re-entered the kitchen and explained to the Chef that she had dropped a plate of apple crumble intending then to ask the Chef for a replacement plate of crumble to take to the guest.

'The Chef cut [Daniesha] off by shouting at her "of course you did".

'Immediately thereafter, both the Chef and [the hotel's] General Manager, Andy Woodcock, who was also in the kitchen at that time, to use [Daniesha's] words of description "were in my face shouting and swearing at me".'

The tirade of abuse left her in floods of tears and she shouted at them to stop treating her that way with the men saying she should 'get out'.

Ms Charles went to the reception and called her mother, Stacey Charles.

The tribunal heard she had been 'incoherent' and 'clearly very upset' during the call.

She left the hotel and never returned.

Her mother complained about the treatment and received an email from Mr Woodcock on June 30 which said that 'had we been aware of Daniesha's anxieties and depressions before her employment we would not have put her into this style of environment'.

The general manager added 'the only option is for the Hotel to finish her employment at this current time'.

Employment Judge Joseph d'Inverno ruled: 'The conduct had the effect of violating [Daniesha'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 has otherwise found in fact that both the [hotel's] Chef and the Manager Andy Woodcock engaged in the conduct of shouting and swearing at female members of staff, young members of staff including [Daniesha] who was the youngest, members of staff of non-white British origin, including [Daniesha], and at [Daniesha] who was disabled by reason of her severe dyslexia.'

EJ d'Inverno added the two men also did not shout and swear at the white, British male staff who were older than Ms Charles.