My Story-Help me make a stand against racial discrimination at Oxford University

I am a 46 year old Black Caribbean man. I worked at second chef at Oxford University colleges for eighteen years. Eight of those were at New College, Oxford University, until I applied for promotion. I did not just hit the glass ceiling; it had huge spikes hanging from it.


When the head chef retired I was acting head chef for over a year. I attended an interview for the head chef's position & was unsuccessful. I later found out that the panel had insulted me in my interview notes. However, it was not until I finally attended an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and racial discrimination, that I discovered I did not meet the job specification. The catering manager admitted, under oath at the employment tribunal, that I never would have got the promotion. All the other candidates were white and met the specification. It seems they only interviewed me in order to humiliate me. I was only offered the chance to obtain the qualification needed after the interview. While I was doing the course, they brought in a new head chef without telling me. This was done to humiliate me to such an extent that I would resign.

I believe that New College were determined to get rid of the only Black chef in their kitchen. In eighteen years of working at Oxford University I have never known there to be a Black head chef at any of the colleges. As second chef, I was the only Black member of staff in a supervisory position at New College. There were no fellows at New College from the Caribbean or Africa.

There were several incidents at New College that I believe were motivated by racial discrimination and prejudice.

My work was unjustly insulted in emails and when I tried to enforce the college's health and safety policy, I was not backed up; in fact the domestic bursar expressed her embarrassment in an email that was forwarded to me. I believe this illustrated her own and the college’s attitude in general: that Black people ‘should be kept in their place’.

I was later disciplined for lateness. I was tired due to working extra hours to cover staff absence. New College punished me more harshly than was usual according to their own staff handbook. Oxfordshire Racial Equality wrote to them advising them to overturn their decision. I appealed and they refused to change their decision. I had never been subject to disciplinary proceedings before, throughout my career. A white chef appealed the decision made regarding disciplinary action made against him. He was successful in having his punishment changed to a less harsh outcome, even though he strongly criticized the management in his appeal.

I lodged a claim at the employment tribunal following advice from the Racial Equality Council.

I was so stressed by the way that New College treated me that I became ill with depression. I have no history of mental illness but the strain became too much. I have now been ill for almost two years. I am on medication for depression and very high blood pressure, which developed following these incidents at work. New College dismissed me last year on medical capability grounds, despite never obtaining a medical report from my GP. The two people that made the decision to dismiss me were two of the same people that I had accused of racial discrimination. I have never had long term illness before. I do not know when I will be able to return to work. I have no trust in people, particularly employers, anymore.

I was unsuccessful at employment tribunal, but I will be appealing. I have proof that New College management lied under oath and that they have no commitment to Equal Opportunities whatsoever. They are flouting the Race Relations Act (amendment 2000). New College claim that they adhere to the Oxford University Equal Opportunities Policy. The New College HR officer was questioned in the tribunal about the specific duties of Higher Education Institutes to carry out monitoring and impact assessments but she had no idea what it meant. Her response was: ‘I treat everyone the same’. Clearly she does not. If New College had been carrying out the monitoring and impact assessments which are required by law, they may have realised that they were discriminating against Black people in their employment procedures, including recruitment, access to training, disciplinary actions and promotion. New College website states that they adhere to the Oxford University Equal Opportunity Policy.

The Oxford University Equality Officer has said that there are no impact assessments being carried out in the colleges within Oxford University, they are only being carried out in selected departments at Oxford University. They have yet to publish the results of these. Therefore it is clear that Oxford University itself is breaking the law according to the Race Relations Act (amendment 2000). The failure of Oxford University to attract and recruit Black students is widely documented. Their blatant flouting of the law is obviously adversely affecting both Black students and Black employees.