Network Rail worker wins race harassment case after EDL leaflet left in locker

Parmjit Bassi, who is not a Muslim, was found to have been the victim of a racist attack when his co-worker stuffed an EDL leaflet in his locker that asked “what individuals were doing to protect their children from Islam”.

The railway worker was also accused of committing a high-profile stabbing, when colleagues placed a newspaper page in his locker about a knife attack.

Bassi, based at Eastleigh depot in Hampshire, is now in line to receive compensation after successfully suing Network Rail at an employment tribunal.

The tribunal ruled that even though Bassi did not follow Islam, the incidents were “clear slights” against his race and Network Rail managers had had a “laissez-faire attitude” towards them.

The Southampton employment tribunal heard that Bassi had had a strained relationship with his colleagues, and that in November 2018 he found a leaflet in his boots, which were in his locker.

The leaflet was produced by the far-right group the EDL and asked “what individuals were doing to protect their children from Islam”. Bassi is not Muslim, but the tribunal found that it had sought to degrade him based on his race and drew no distinction between him and Muslims.

He said that he had been “shocked by the leaflet being left as it was, and was concerned that nobody followed up on it”.

The tribunal concluded that Network Rail’s “laissez-faire attitude was very hard to comprehend” regarding the incident, and Bassi’s manager admitted that more should have been done.

The tribunal said: “It should have been clear that [Mr Bassi] was being ostracised and that something needed to be done.

“There was then an act that the tribunal consider to be of some gravity when the leaflet was placed in [Mr Bassi’s] boot. It was a further manifestation of somebody within the team or some bodies indicating that they did not want [Mr Bassi] at work and there is a very clear racial message contained within.

“The pressure had been ramped up significantly. The tribunal does not consider that the fact that the leaflet was about the perceived perils of Islam, which was not [Mr Bassi’s] religion, made any difference.

“[Mr Bassi] was simply lumped in together with what the purveyor of the literature perceived as a dangerous ‘other’. The tribunal are quite sure that this was a clear an act of racial harassment / intimidation towards [Mr Bassi] as part of the ongoing campaign by a colleague or colleagues.

“It was the first time that race had played a part from the evidence we have before us. To do nothing was weak management and only strengthened the bullies’ position at the expense of [Mr Bassi].”

Bassi took some annual leave to distance himself from the environment, but shortly after his return in January he was again the victim of racist harassment.

Two copies of a national newspaper with the headline: “Knifed Nine Times” – and a note written in marker pen saying: “It was Parm” – were found in the office. One was with a knife in a kitchen drawer, and the other was again found in Bassi’s boot.

The tribunal heard that Bassi’s manager had sent him home on full pay “for his own welfare” and that he was later moved to work on a different team, but that this was decided without his input.

Bassi was moved around and continued to look for more suitable work, but struggled in his role and was eventually dismissed in April 2021.

He appealed against the decision but it was upheld, so he took Network Rail to the Southampton employment tribunal with a number of claims, of which those of racial harassment and unfair dismissal were successful.