Gay worker awarded £3,250 compensation

Friday 09 September 2016

A homosexual shop worker who was left shaking and in tears after his colleagues threatened to "burn gays" and later found himself unemployed, has been awarded £3,250 compensation.

Ryan Flanagan took his case to the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal following an incident at work in September last year.

It was Pride Week and the march went past the store where Mr Flanagan was employed as a shelf stacker. He was in the doorway at the time and was joined by a number of other work colleagues. One of them – Marco Ferreira - asked: “What’s that for?" One of the others replied: “It’s for Gay Pride.” At the time, Mr Flanagan hadn’t told them he was homosexual.

Mr Ferreira then said he couldn’t understand why anyone would hide their sexuality. Mr Flanagan said this made him feel very uncomfortable.

Later,another member of staff who was in the stockroom, asked what all the commotion was about. Dawid Wozniak then commented: “They should burn all the gays,” and that he would “Throw napalm [a highly flammable chemical used by the American Air Force during the Vietnam War to burn the jungle down] from the roof.”

Mr Ferreira told the tribunal that when he heard about this he challenged Mr Wozniak asking why he would say such a thing, but that he later realised he’d been "joking."

The ‘banter’ continued and Mr Flanagan became very upset and started shouting and swearing. He told the tribunal he felt "nervous and cornered" and "choked up" and left the storeroom in tears.

Mr Flanagan later complained to managers John and Alison Baker. They claim they did their best to smooth over the dispute and got the two workers to write letters of apology, but this wasn’t sufficient for Mr Flanagan.

A week after the dispute Mr Flanagan was handed a letter saying the firm was closing one of its three shops and that some staff were being moved, but that he was being laid off. He told the tribunal “That he was sure that if he had not raised the grievance, he would have moved too… he was 100% sure that was the reason he was being laid off… this was a homophobic act.”

The tribunal agreed Mr Flanagan had been victimised and unfairly dismissed and ordered Island Greetings Limited to pay him £1,800. It also demanded Mr Ferreira pay him £870, and Mr Wozniak pay £145 for the hurt and distress he suffered as a result of their harassment. Island Greetings Limited was also order to pay a further £435 for the distress caused whilst Mr Flanagan was employed by them.