A black lawyer has won a race harassment case after a co-worker posted a ‘racy’ picture of a naked Brazilian samba dancer into a workplace group chat.
Rochelle Tapping complained after Cecilie Booth shared the image while she was on holiday in Rio de Janeiro.
The tribunal heard that Ms Booth, a former chief finance officer for Peterborough City Council, decided to post pictures of her samba lesson into the WhatsApp chat for the Corporate Leadership Team at Peterborough City Council.
Ms Booth sent an image of a female black performer who had her ‘buttocks on show’ and appeared to only be wearing a ‘plume of green feathers protruding from her head’.
‘The Brazilian samba is a bit racy’, Ms Booth wrote in the chat.
Ms Tapping, Director of Legal and Governance, was the only black person in the WhatsApp chat and said the picture of the ‘exposed’ dancer created a ‘degrading environment’ for her.
In a separate incident, Ms Tapping complained that the Chief Executive of the council, Matthew Gladstone, introduced a new black colleague to her and asked if they were ‘friends’.
Ms Tapping has now successfully sued Peterborough City Council after an employment tribunal found both incidents amounted to race harassment.
The senior lawyer, who was later sacked, is now in line to receive compensation.
Ms Tapping started working for Peterborough City Council as its Director of Legal and Governance and also a monitoring officer in November 2022.
The tribunal heard that she was the first and only black person to be appointed as a monitoring officer at Peterborough City Council.
While working for the Council, she was told that she had not met the conditions of her probation period and would be investigated for her performance level. Following a review, her contract was terminated in August 2023.
Ms Tapping claimed that during her employment she had suffered several incidents of racial harassment, including Ms Booth’s samba photo in April 2023.
The tribunal heard: ‘[Ms Tapping] was the only black member of the WhatsApp group; indeed, all the others were white.
‘The woman in the first photograph does appear, at first glance, to be naked except for a plume of green feathers protruding from her head.
‘The woman is photographed from behind.
‘Her long hair conceals that she is in fact in carnival costume; her buttocks, legs and thighs are all on show.
‘The woman is in the foreground; beyond her in the background are the lower halves of five seated individuals, four of whom appear to be white and at least one of whom appears to be an older woman.
‘There is at least one other female and, given her attire, she seems to be much younger.
‘None of their faces are visible in the photograph.
The tribunal acknowledged that Ms Booth was on holiday in Brazil and was taking part in Samba dance lessons and which she ‘joked about in a self-deprecating way’.
They continued: ‘[The council’s lawyer] makes the point that these were not random pictures downloaded from the internet and that it would have been reasonably apparent to the WhatsApp group, including [Ms Tapping], that the woman in question was performing in an organised show for tourists.
‘Nevertheless, in forwarding the first photograph Ms Booth drew attention to the performer’s scanty attire, writing, “The Brazilian samba is a bit racy”.
It was heard in February 2023 Council chief executive Mr Gladstone introduced Ms Tapping to a new colleague, Adsuwa Omoregie, the interim head of legal.
Mr Gladstone asked Ms Tapping ‘if they were friends’.
Ms Tapping said she believed Mr Glastone ‘saw two black [people] sitting together that he assumed that we were friends talking together’.
Employment Judge Roger Tynan, sitting in Cambridge, ruled that the WhatsApp messages sent from Ms Booth and Mr Gladstone’s comment were harassment.
Judge Tynan said: ‘As regards the picture, we take on board that Ms Tapping was the only black member of the WhatsApp group.
‘In our judgement that fact, combined with the picture’s focus on the black performer’s exposed buttocks, rather than for example her abilities (or otherwise) as a performer or dancer, lead us to conclude that the image can be said to relate to race and that it was ultimately reasonable for Ms Tapping to feel that it created a degrading environment for her and black women in general.
‘Had [Ms Tapping] been the only female in an otherwise all male WhatsApp group, we think it would have been recognised more readily that the picture had the potential to cause offence.
‘Whilst we think that the upset caused to her was not particularly significant, we think it did offend her sense of what it is and what it takes to be a successful professional black woman, and for that reason we uphold the complaint.’
Judge Tynan acknowledged that it was not ‘intended’ by Ms Booth to be an offensive message and was meant to be a ‘light-hearted’ message about her holiday. But he said the image itself was harassment and would still upset Ms Tapping despite its intentions.
Judge Tynan ruled separately that Mr Gladstone’s comment about Ms Tapping being friends with the new black employee was racial harassment.
Judge Tynan said: ‘Whilst we are satisfied that it was not Mr Gladstone’s intention to violate Ms Tapping’s or Ms Omoregie’s dignity or to create an adverse environment for them, there is no evidence that he corrected himself at the time or clarified what he meant by his question.
‘It seemed to both Ms Tapping and Ms Omoregie that he was assuming that two female black professionals must know one another.
‘In our judgement, there is no reason why [Ms Tapping] and Ms Omoregie ought to have understood that he had in mind whether they had some previous professional connection that may have led Ms Omoregie to join the City Council.
‘We ultimately conclude that it was reasonable for her to be offended by the comment because of the implicit suggestion, as she perceived it, that two black women in senior roles must know one another, alternatively that Ms Omoregie had not been recruited by [Ms Tapping] entirely on merit.’
Ms Tapping brought a series of other allegations but all were dismissed.
Compensation will be determined later.
