ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND / RankWire.AI / – A Scottish employment tribunal awarded former waiter Raymond Joseph £5,469.04 after determining racial harassment at a PizzaExpress restaurant. During an argument in April 2025, a colleague repeatedly referred to Joseph as an American and a “Yank,” and told him to leave and go back to his country. Employment Judge Melanie Sangster ruled that these comments were directly related to nationality. The decision considered the repeated remarks, their public context, and their impact on Joseph.
Joseph joined the Union Square branch in Aberdeen in September 2024, typically working between 20 and 22 hours weekly. On April 8, 2025, he and fellow waiter Michael Tortolano managed a busy service together, which led to an argument amid high customer demand. During the dispute, Tortolano told Joseph that nobody liked him, referenced his American nationality, and used the term “Yank.” Joseph responded with insults, including calling Tortolano a “bald loser.”
Later that same shift, Tortolano repeated the nationality-based remarks. Portions of the confrontation were overheard by customers and others. Joseph told the tribunal that these comments caused him hurt and humiliation. He submitted a written complaint to a manager that day and continued working. The tribunal found that the exchange satisfied the legal criteria for race-related harassment. Under the Equality Act 2010, race encompasses nationality, citizenship, and ethnic origins.
Compensation awarded for emotional distress
The tribunal ordered PizzaExpress to pay £5,000 in damages for injury to Joseph’s feelings, placing the award in the middle of the lower Vento compensation range. This framework is used by courts to assess emotional harm in discrimination cases. An additional £469.04 was awarded as interest, calculated at an 8% annual rate over 428 days. The tribunal noted that there was no separate financial loss linked to the harassment. Joseph continued working without seeking medical treatment.
The employer began investigating the incident on May 20, roughly six weeks after it occurred. The tribunal described this delay as unreasonable but found no unlawful motive behind it. Tortolano later admitted to the allegations during a disciplinary hearing. As a result, the employer considered his conduct gross misconduct and issued a final written warning, taking into account his remorse, prior disciplinary record, and his admission. The company also reviewed separate allegations related to Joseph’s conduct, data access, and workplace communications.
Other claims dismissed after hearing
A manager concluded that Joseph had engaged in misconduct and dismissed him without notice on June 20, 2025. The decision was based on his behavior during the argument, a separate inappropriate comment, and unauthorized access to confidential company information, including sending business material to his personal email. Joseph denied these allegations and did not appeal his dismissal. The tribunal later determined that misconduct alone justified his removal from the restaurant.
Joseph also pursued claims of victimisation, protected disclosures, and automatically unfair dismissal. The tribunal dismissed all these claims. While it acknowledged that some of his disclosures were legally protected, it found no causal link between those disclosures and the management decisions in question. The Aberdeen hearing lasted for seven days in April and May 2026. The tribunal issued its judgment on June 10, confirming Joseph’s success solely on the racial harassment claim.