Justice for Gregory Lewis

Last year I was contacted by a black chef, Gregory Lewis who worked at New College, Oxford University for eight years. The director of the Race Equality Council in Oxford advised him to take a claim to Employment Tribunal. He could not understand why the tribunal hearing, which found in New College’s favour, seemed to ignore his evidence.

During the tribunal hearing it emerged that the HR Officer had no idea of what the specific duties of Higher Education Establishments were under the RRA (amendment) 2000. There was no monitoring in place to ensure there was no racial discrimination in any of their policies i.e. disciplinary action, access to training & promotion.

Gregory Lewis had been interviewed for the role of head chef, after being a second chef at Oxford University for twenty years. There had never been a black head chef at an Oxford University college. Gregory held the highest position of any black member of staff at New College at that time. There were no black fellows or managers.

They interviewed Gregory along with other candidates, none of whom were taken on. New College management advised Gregory to go on a course to better his chances of getting the still vacant, head chef’s position. They did not offer him the opportunity to go on this course before the interview, but during cross examination, the catering manager said that he ‘would not have employed anyone who did not have the qualification already ‘unless they were a Jamie Oliver’, so the interview was a farce unless they believed that a black chef might at any time morph into a white TV chef!

While he was away on the course (and still acting head chef as far as he knew), the college took on a new (white) head chef through the back door without even letting Gregory know, totally humiliating him in front of his colleagues. The message was clear: the black man does not deserve any respect. The person they took on had not even made the shortlist for the original interview and had no experience in a university setting.

The original interview notes made rude comments about Gregory Lewis that were clearly based on racial stereotyping, making him out to have a slave mentality and unable to follow instructions. This was a chef that had won many awards.

Unfortunately, Gregory’s situation is not unfamiliar. I have spoken to many black people, who have experienced similar treatment when applying for promotion. We as a people should be long past the stage where, when trying to progress through hard work and dedication, we are regarded as ‘uppity’ and expected to shuffle our feet, say ‘yes massa’, and be grateful for whatever lowly position these institutionally racist employers decide we are good enough for.

New College management embarked on a series of actions designed to intimidate Gregory and force him out of his job. In the end he was too ill to work and they dismissed him on grounds of medical capability.

The judge and lay members at the Employment Tribunal in Reading were dismissive of the evidence given that management had racially stereotyped Gregory, and the judge said that ‘being lazy and stupid is not a stereotype of a black man’.

When Gregory received the judgement from the Employment Tribunal in writing, he was shocked to find that not only had the judge disregarded what he had said about racial stereotyping, he had substituted his own racial stereotype, saying that he thought he was stereotyped as being ‘laid back to the extreme’!

Victory at Employment Appeal Tribunal Hearing

The judge in the original Employment Tribunal hearing made submissions for the appeal including:

‘I still do not believe that there is a stereotypical view of Black Caribbean males being “lazy and stupid”. They may have a more “relaxed” approach to life than other ethnic groups but that is not in any way a derogatory assessment and in any event was not in reality a relevant feature in this case.’

Extracts from The EAT judgement The judge has at least given the appearance of holding a stereotypical view, in that he takes a view that a more relaxed approach to life is exhibited by Black Caribbean males, than by other groups. In our judgment, that is inappropriate. It is put as an allegation of actual bias but we prefer to regard it, and we uphold it, as being an allegation of apparent bias.

Given that there was evidence as to stereotypes, it ought to have been dealt with and not been the substitution of a view by the judge. The matter which worried Judge Hand’s division of this Tribunal was the finding by the judge and Mr Cameron in their subsequent comments, that there was no such attitude towards Black Caribbean men in this country, a view which surprised very much the lay members in Judge Hand’s division and Judge Hand too.

In that respect, it is a matter that we too might have a view about. Since there is no challenge before us to the evidence which Ms Ruskin (Gregory Lewis’s partner who represented him at the Employment Tribunal) says she put before the Tribunal as to a divergent view of two universities, we consider that there would have been substance in her submission and it was not fair for the Tribunal to form such a view.’

Smugness and Superiority exhibited by New College Oxford management: Snobbery or racism?

Judge Coles said in his written comments to the EAT that: ‘Member Mr Cameron refers to the facial expressions of the University witnesses & observers potentially being described as having ‘an air of being smug and superior’ and that was certainly a perception which all members of the tribunal reached’.

The EAT judge said: ‘Were they smug and superior because they were above a mere chef? Or was it anything to do with the fact that he was Black Caribbean?’

He also mentions the ‘highly dismissive superior and arrogant approach by Dr Parrott, (New College Fellow and Historian) in responding to the Claimant’. Dr Parrott made racially stereotyping comments during the interview process and when challenged, instead of apologising he wrote an essay in which he referred to Gregory as ‘Maliciously Stupid’.

The decision of the original tribunal has been set aside and remitted to a freshly constituted panel at the Employment Tribunal.

Lee Jasper Full Press Release Available here

Picture: Greg Lewis with Rev Jesse Jackson