An English firefighter who claimed he experienced racial harassment while working for Limerick Fire Brigade has been awarded €5,000 by an Equality Tribunal.
Martin Mannering filed a complaint alleging that his employer, Limerick City Council, failed to protect him after he received an anonymous racist note in his locker.
The note, which was discovered in September 2006, made clear reference to the firefighter's nationality and suggested he should leave the station he had worked at since 2001.
Mr Mannering also claimed that between 2002 and 2004, a number of incidents occurred at work, and during a training course he was attending, that showed he was less favourably treated than his colleagues because he was English.
The tribunal heard that when the issue of the anonymous note was brought to the attention of his superiors, Mr Mannering met with a member from the fire service's HR department and later on with the chief fire officer, who agreed to a transfer request on grounds of health and safety.
However, the complainant alleged the Chief Fire Officer failed to follow-up on his complaint of harassment by undertaking a full investigation into the incident.
Limerick City Council rejected Mr Mannering’s claim that it had discriminated against him on the ground of race contrary to the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2008.
It maintained that throughout his training and employment, the man was subjected to the same disciplinary and supervisory processes as his colleagues.
It also said two other English fire fighters are in its employment and that this weakened the complainant's case that the manner in which issues were dealt with were linked to his race or national origin.
Limerick City Council admitted that the incident involving the anonymous note had occurred and been reported but maintained that the complainant had frustrated an attempted investigation into the matter.
The tribunal ruled out the earlier complaint alleging Mr Mannaering was treated less favourably than his colleagues due to it being outside the time limits specified in the Employment Equality Acts.
However, the tribunal awarded him €5,000 compensation after it found that the chief fire officer's failure to insist on an investigation into the anonymous note was in contravention of the obligations placed on staff members under the council's anti-harassment policy.
In 2008 an English pipe fitter who was verbally and racially abused while working for an engineering company was awarded €20,000 in compensation by an Equality Tribunal.
In a second race-related decision upheld by a tribunal last month, Jose Litoquiber, a Filipino national who worked as an articulated truck driver with Johnston Logistics, was awarded €25,000 after an equality officer ruled that he was paid less by his employer because of his race.
