Salesman, 34, branded a 'fat, ginger p**ey' and 'salad dodger' by his boss LOSES discrimination case

A sales rep for a global software company who was called “a fat ginger p**ey”, a “salad dodger” and “fat Yoda” has lost his claim for racial harassment.

David Evans said he was called the derogatory terms by colleagues, which also included comparing him to Gimli the dwarf, a “jellied eel salesman” and referring to him as “wonky eye”.

He also claimed executives at Xactly, one of the top technology firms based in San Francisco, repeatedly abused him by calling him a salad dodger at least ten times in eight months during a campaign of harassment.

Former Europe Vice President Tom Castley is alleged to have said while waiting in a lift during his second week in the sales job in January 2016 that: “I’d rather f*** him than fight him.”

Mr Evans claims former regional sales manager Kevin Henderson called him a salad dodger at a lunch in March 2016, then a “fat ginger p**ey” a month later.

Mr Evans, who said he was raised by a Traveller family, claims he also called him “stupid” and “common”.

Former sales executive and current director, Patrick Morton, was said to call him a “Fat Yoda” in May 2016 when he sat at his desk.

Both Patrick Morton and Kevin Henderson were alleged to have called Mr Evans “Gimli” on a number of occasions – including sending a picture of the fictional dwarf to colleagues on a company chat system on March 15 last year.

Tom Castley, who has since also been sacked by the company, described him as a “second hand car salesman”, it was claimed.

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Mr Evans claimed he was victimised due to his race and disability by his former bosses due to his diabetes and under-active thyroid, which caused weight gain.

But an employment tribunal in London found he was not a victim of harassment because he did not complain at the time and could not show a link between his illness and any weight gain.

A panel of judges also found colleagues did not know he had connections to the Traveller community or that he was persecuted because of his diabetes.

Judge Joanna Wade said in the panel’s judgement: “By far the worst allegation is Mr Henderson’s ‘fat ginger p**ey’ comment. This could have been harassment, but having looked at the context we conclude that it was not.

“The loose connection between the claimant and Travellers makes it very unlikely that the comment was intended to upset him and indeed he agrees that Kevin Henderson would not have had that intention.

“It also makes it less likely that the effect would be a undermining of the claimant’s dignity because it was not very personal.

“All the indications are that the claimant was not upset at the time.

“If he complained at all in June the complaint was not sufficient and so there was no recognisable complaint until the grievance some seven months later.”

The panel found there was office “banter” which a lot of employees joined in, including Mr Evans.

Judges also said Mr Evans “elaborated beyond recognition” the details of a meeting between him and Tom Castley where the claimant said he complained about being called a p**ey.

Mr Evans says he was sacked in December 2016 for “expressing an interest in leaving the company”, but Xactly claim he was fired for poor performance.

The dismissal of the claimant followed the same “pattern” as another salesman who was also sacked for not reaching targets, the panel decided.

Reacting to the losing his discrimination case, Mr Evans said: “I never asked to be called a fat ginger p**ey, that is unwanted contact, which is the definition of race discrimination.”

He now plans to appeal the decision.