Racial Term Used During Equality Training

An employment tribunal has recently considered whether an employee who used an offensive racial term during a race awareness training session had been unfairly dismissed.

Borg-Neal v Lloyds Banking Group PLC, ET 2202667/2022

Facts of the case

The claimant was a long-standing employee of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), employed in a managerial position. In July 2021, he attended a remote training session for line managers as part of LBG's Race Action Plan, delivered by an external provider.

During the session, the claimant asked how a line manager should handle the situation if a person from an ethnic minority used a word that would be considered offensive if used by someone not within that ethnic minority. He gave the example of someone in the "black community" using the 'N word' (the claimant used the full word).