A POLISH produce packer who lived in Redditch, and who alleged she and her national colleagues were treated less favourably than Lithuanian workers at a Warwickshire farm, has lost legal claims for race discrimination and harassment.
Katarzyna Bujna of Mount Pleasant, who packed salad for distribution to major UK supermarkets, made the accusation against Sandfields Farms Ltd of Luddington,Stratford-Upon-Avon at a previous Birmingham Employment Tribunal hearing.
Miss Bujna alleged that she was sworn and shouted at by employees because she was Polish, harassed and called an abusive name and given a “witch doll” by a worker she believed was a Lithuanian.
She alleged he told her the doll was prettier than her.
Miss Bujna told the tribunal at the previous hearing: "Me and my Polish colleagues were treated less favourably than the Lithuanian workers at the farm."
She claimed the situation made her ill with stress and depression, causing her to go on sick leave.
Miss Bujna accused the firm of failing to interview all the employees who were said to have witnessed the alleged incidents.
The firm denied the allegations and said it had a good reputation with scores of employees of all nationalities and had not been aware of some of Miss Bujna’s complaints.
They said they made every effort to encourage her to return to work from sick leave.
The respondents also accused Miss Bujna of being, in part, the author of her own misfortune "insofar as she appeared to be as ready as any other to start an argument at work".
The firm added: "She has not been able to produce details of any comparators and neither has she been able to show that the treatment she received was any different to that afforded to others, either Polish or of other nationalities."
The respondents admitted that one staff member who appeared to have been particularly unpleasant to Miss Bujna had been disciplined.
Tribunal judge James Algazy decided at the previous hearing that he would make a decision at a later date and has now announced that Miss Bujna’s legal claims for race discrimination and harassment have failed.
He rejected her allegation that she had not been given a written contract and accepted that the firm had carried out a proper investigation into her allegations.
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