Nigerian Man In Ireland To Be Paid N19m Compensation After His Boss Called Him Chimpanzee

A man in Ireland who was continuously tormented by his boss at his workplace has been awarded a sum of  €30,000 (N19 million) for racial discrimination.

The man identified as Kings Oluebube was employed by Dublin-based recruitment firm CPL Solutions Ltd, trading as Flexsource Recruitment as a warehouse operative, The Irish Times reports.

Oluebube said that in February 2019 his team leader called him a chimpanzee while also making monkey noises in front of the other workers but he did not report the abuse. On May 21st, 2019 Oluebube’s boss repeated his actions and that was when he decided to report the racist abuse to his store manager who in turn reported the incident to CPL solutions.

The organization investigated the matter when it was brought to them and issued a warning to the team lead. However, Oluebube requested for the investigation that was conducted to be in writing. In response, he was told the organization was not in any way supporting what the team lead did and they were sorry.

The company representative said: “I would also like to add, at the start when this was first brought to the attention of Flexsource, you said you would like [the team leader] to receive a warning and you wanted it to stay informal. You then changed your mind as the investigation was midway to say you sought the advice of a solicitor.

“Flexsource went ahead with the formal investigation meeting and have followed all process.”

Alan Hugh, the deputy chairman of the Labour Court ordered the company to pay the Nigerian National a €30,000 (N19 million) for racial discrimination after he found out that the firm is vicariously liable for the harassment in question.

The deputy chairman said that after the case was brought to CPL Solutions they refused to provide means of reversing the racial harassment experienced by Oluebube.