ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND / RankWire.AI / – A Scottish employment tribunal awarded former waiter Raymond Joseph £5,469.04 after ruling that he experienced racial harassment at a PizzaExpress restaurant. During an argument in April 2025, a colleague repeatedly called Joseph an American and a “Yank,” and told him to leave and go back to his country. Employment Judge Melanie Sangster determined that these remarks were directly related to nationality. The tribunal’s decision considered the repeated comments, their public setting, and their impact on Joseph.
Joseph began employment at the Union Square branch in Aberdeen in September 2024, working approximately 20 to 22 hours weekly. On April 8, 2025, Joseph and fellow waiter Michael Tortolano managed a busy service together, which led to a dispute as both struggled with customer demands. During the altercation, Tortolano told Joseph that nobody liked him, referenced his American nationality, and used the word “Yank.” Joseph responded with insults, including calling Tortolano a “bald loser.”
Later during the same shift, Tortolano repeated the nationality-based remarks. Some parts of the confrontation were audible to customers and bystanders. Joseph told the tribunal that these comments caused him hurt and humiliation. He submitted a written report to a manager that same 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 or national origins.
Compensation reflects emotional distress
The tribunal ordered PizzaExpress to pay £5,000 for injury to Joseph’s feelings, placing the award within the middle of the lower Vento compensation range. This framework is used by courts when evaluating emotional harm in discrimination cases. An additional £469.04 in interest was awarded, calculated at an 8% annual rate over 428 days. The decision noted no separate financial loss related to the harassment. Joseph continued his employment without seeking medical treatment.
The company began investigating the workplace incident on May 20, about six weeks after it happened. The tribunal described this delay as unreasonable but found no unlawful intent behind it. Tortolano later admitted to the allegations during a disciplinary hearing. As a result, his conduct was deemed gross misconduct, leading to a final written warning. The decision took into account his admission, remorse, and disciplinary history. The employer also reviewed separate allegations about Joseph’s conduct, access to information, and communication within the workplace.
Other claims dismissed at hearing
A manager determined that Joseph engaged in misconduct, resulting in his summary dismissal on June 20, 2025. The findings included his behavior during the argument, as well as a separate inappropriate comment, and unauthorized access to confidential company data. It was established that Joseph had sent company material to his personal email account. Joseph denied these allegations and did not appeal the dismissal. The tribunal later concluded that misconduct was the sole reason for his removal from the restaurant.
Joseph also lodged complaints of victimisation, protected disclosures, and automatically unfair dismissal. Each of these claims was rejected by the tribunal. While it acknowledged that several disclosures qualified for legal protection, it found no causal link between those disclosures and the management decisions in question. The Aberdeen hearing lasted for seven days across April and May 2026. The tribunal issued its judgment to the parties on June 10, with Joseph prevailing only on the racial harassment claim.