An Indian man received roughly 67,000 pounds in compensation after accusing his manager of racial discrimination and unfair dismissal at a KFC store in London where he worked. A tribunal that heard the case found in his favour. The man, Madhesh Ravichandran, is from Tamil Nadu.
He began working at a KFC in London’s West Wickham in January 2023, where he said his manager dubbed him a “slave” and forced him to work extra hours, according to the tribunal, cited by the BBC. Ravichandran said that two months after starting at the fast food business, he was refused his yearly leave. According to the complaint, he reportedly overheard his employer, Kajan Theiventhiram, telling another employee that he would prioritize Sri Lankan Tamil employees and referring to Ravichandran as “this slave”.
Ravichandran resigned from his job months after overhearing the statements, alleging that despite raising the issue, no adequate investigation was conducted to determine what had occurred. According to a PTI report, the tribunal judge who heard the case, Paul Abbott, determined that Ravichandran’s leave request was “significantly influenced” by his ethnicity and that he was “upset and humiliated”.
The judge further determined that Ravichandran was subjected to racial discrimination and harassment and was unfairly terminated. Ravichandran’s evidence that he was forced to work extra hours due to his boss’ “racially prejudiced attitude” was accepted by the court, and he was given £66,800 in compensation. In addition to the compensation, the judge suggested that all employees of Nexus Foods Limited, which operates the KFC restaurant where the incident occurred, undertake workplace discrimination training.
