A Brazilian waitress who won a race discrimination case after a colleague ‘humiliated’ her over her accent has ‘not received a penny’ of her £35,000 payout.
Ana Beatriz Machado was harassed by a colleague at the Western-themed bar Coyote Ugly, who told her she ‘didn’t like her voice’ and that customers ‘don’t understand her’.
The 31-year-old was also accused of stealing money from the bar’s tills and sending it back to her family in Sorocaba in Brazil. She was subsequently fired on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
Ms Machado, a single mother living in Liverpool, won a five-figure payout after representing herself and successfully suing Coyote Ugly for race harassment.
The employment tribunal, held in October 2025, ruled her dismissal was related to her nationality and was ‘an act of harassment’.
Yet it has emerged the waitress, who now works at Hooters, has not received a monetary drop from Swansea Audio Ltd, the firm which previously ran Coyote Ugly Saloon.
Ms Machado described the case’s conclusion, which she likened to ‘David vs. Goliath’, as ‘only half a win’ as her bank account remains untouched.
She said the incident has led her to ‘lose so much of [her life]’, adding the lack of a payout by the firm is ‘disgusting’ and ‘feels personal’.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Machado said: ‘I feel like they spent loads of money paying solicitors to fight me, which actually would cost way more than just paying me instead.
‘It makes me feel like any big company can do whatever they want with people.’
The mother-of-one now fears her chance of receiving the money is dwindling as Companies House filings dated up to June 30, 2025 show Swansea Audio Ltd with a racked up debt of £888,000.
Ms Machado said, despite the firm’s financial insecurity, the director Steve Lewis has founded a new firm, Coyote Ugly Limited, in May 2024.
Swansea Audio Ltd’s employees dropped from 100 in 2024 to 15 in its latest accounts, which covers up to June 2025.
Swansea Audio Ltd was ordered to pay Ms Machado £35,526 following the five-day hearing in Liverpool. This broke down to £15,000 for injury to feelings and nearly £13,000 for past losses.
Speaking in the aftermath of the case, she said the experience had caused her to suffer anxiety and depression, which made her ‘stop eating’, ‘stop sleeping’, and reportedly rely on food banks to provide food for her five-year-old daughter, Ella.
Ms Machado, who is mum to daughter Ella, had worked as a ‘Coyote’ – a term for female bartenders – at Coyote Ugly for a year when she was harassed.
At Coyote Ugly, female bartenders – called ‘Coyotes’ – often wear cowboy boots, denim shorts, tops and perform line-dancing to entertain crowds.
During her employment, Miss Machado was harassed by fellow Coyote Rhiannon Freeman, who told another waitress not to pass the bar’s microphone to Miss Machado.
Staff members had to use the microphone at work to speak to customers, but Ms Freeman said they ‘don’t understand her’ in reference to Miss Machado.
It was also found Ms Freeman had said Miss Machado was ‘weird’, ‘struggled to communicate’, and ‘did not like her voice’.
Employment Judge Jane Callan ruled that Ms Freeman’s comments were race harassment and she was awarded compensation of £35,526.
Judge Callan said: ‘It was unwanted conduct which had the effect of humiliating [her] or creating an offensive environment for her.
‘[Her] accent is intrinsic to her nationality and we therefore find the act of unlawful harassment is made out.’
Miss Machado also successfully sued for harassment over her dismissal because it was ruled that her assistant manager, Rebecca Fitzsimmons, was influenced by her nationality when sacking her.
She was accused by her assistant manager of stealing money and sending it back to her family in Brazil.
Ms Fitzsimmons accused her of not charging some customers for drinks and taking cash payments but not putting them all into the till.
Judge Callan said there was not enough evidence to conclude she was stealing.
Speaking after the tribunal, Ms Machado said the comments about her accent made her lose confidence and feel that she was being used as a ‘joke’ because she was an immigrant.
She said: ‘I had people doing bad jokes about my accent and using this against me. I shouldn’t have been used as a joke.’
Ms Machado said that her dismissal gave her anxiety and said she ‘could not sleep’ because of the ‘fear, shame, and ‘insecurity’.
She did not think anyone would believe her and wanted to clear her name from accusations.
She said: ‘As a person and as a mother, the experience was very difficult.
‘I became very depressed and had to take medication to cope with the whole process, while also carrying the shame and fear that people might believe the false allegation of theft made against me.
‘For me, the greatest fight was to clear my name. When an employer takes everything from you, including the most important thing-your name-you are left trapped in fear, shame, and insecurity.
‘I was worried nobody would trust me ever again. I felt like nobody would ever believe me.
‘I am a single parent. Without work, I couldn’t afford anything for my daughter. I would be going to the food bank to get some food.
‘It was December, nearly January, and all the bills for December weren’t paid. So, at this time, I was very scared. So, I had no money.. I had no money for food.
‘It made me feel so bad. I started to question myself way too much. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat. I went to bed at 5am in the morning. I had to go to the NHS for pills to sleep and calm my anxiety. I couldn’t live.’
It took Ms Machado a year to find another job, which caused her financial troubles and she worried for her daughter.
She said: ‘When I finally found my new job, I lived in fear for a long time that they might dismiss me for any mistake I could make.
‘I was afraid of opening the till and I was afraid of the tips I might receive, since the reason my ex-boss dismissed me was because the tip jar looked ‘too full’ in her view.’
Ms Machado, from Sorocaba in Brazil, currently has leave to remain through her daughter, who is a UK citizen.
