A Jewish former employee of a major private healthcare company has been awarded £20,000 after successfully suing his boss for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.
Darren Feldman, who was a project manager for HCA International, was abused by Chris Oates who made antisemitic comments over a five-month period, including telling Mr Feldman he would like to lock a group of Jews “in the building and gas them all”.
Mr Feldman told the London Central employment tribunal that he had eventually resigned because he “could not tolerate any more racist or religious abuse”.
He said that during talks with businessmen, including Lord Sugar’s son Daniel, Mr Oates had confided to him that: “Quite frankly, they’re all a bunch of Yids. I’d like to lock them in the building and gas them all”.
He added that Mr Oates had joked that he planned to run down White Hart Lane, where Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium is located, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “Ivor 4 skin”.
After the tribunal had given its decision, Mr Feldman, from Middlesex, spoke of his relief.
“My experiences at HCA scarred me. I’ve had to have six weeks of counselling sessions to help me,” he said. “I was over the moon when I was chosen out of 27 people to get that job; I was proud to work for them. I just want to move on now. ”
Mr Feldman’s solicitor, Shilpen Savani, said his client’s motivation for bringing the case was to prevent future cases of abuse.
“He can’t believe that this kind of thing was allowed to go on in the workplace. He wants to stop it happening to other people.”
In a statement, HCA International, which continues to employ Mr Oates, told the JC it believed that the allegations of abuse were “completely unfounded” and that it intended to appeal against the tribunal’s decision.