Photo shared in WhatsApp chat amounted to racial harassment
A senior legal professional has succeeded in a workplace harassment case after a colleague posted holiday photos to an internal messaging group, including an image of a carnival performer who appeared almost unclothed. An employment tribunal concluded that the photo, shared in a leadership WhatsApp chat, created a hostile and degrading atmosphere for the claimant as a Black woman.
The claimant, the only black member of the organisation’s upper management at the time, argued that the image, which showed a Black dancer wearing a revealing carnival costume, amounted to race-related harassment. The tribunal agreed, noting that the focus of the picture and the context in which it was shared meant it could reasonably be interpreted as racial in nature and as contributing to an uncomfortable work environment.
The WhatsApp incident occurred when the finance lead, who was abroad at the time, sent two holiday photographs to the management group. One of them showed a Black carnival performer with much of her body on display, which the tribunal described as appearing, at first glance, to depict near nudity except for decorative headwear. Because the claimant was the only Black member of the group, the tribunal found that distributing the image constituted race-related harassment.
A second complaint was also upheld. Shortly after another black senior colleague temporarily joined the organisation, the chief executive asked the claimant whether she and the new hire “were friends”. Although the comment was not intended to cause harm, the tribunal found that it implied an assumption that two black professionals would naturally know one another, causing the claimant understandable offence.
During this period, concerns were also raised about the claimant’s workplace performance. In a probation review, her tone was described as “aggressive”, a characterisation that was later withdrawn with an apology. Her probation was extended and, several months later, her employment was terminated. The tribunal determined that these decisions were based on legitimate performance considerations and not related to race.
The tribunal ruled that two incidents met the threshold for race-related harassment. It emphasised that even without malicious intent, comments or actions based on assumptions about race can contribute to an adverse or degrading environment.
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