Personnel Today reports that a former Border Force officer who was alleged to have used racist slurs at work has been awarded more than £16,000 after an employment tribunal found the disciplinary process used by the Home Office was unfair.

The London South Employment Tribunal found that Joel Gold, although dismissed on the “potentially fair” ground of gross misconduct, was subjected to an unfair investigation, disciplinary hearing and appeal process that gave him “no chance of establishing his innocence”.

Colleagues claimed they had witnessed Gold using racially offensive language, including a reference to Vietnamese nationals as “Gooks”, a co-worker as “Paki” and a black colleague as “King of the Jungle”.

There was a considerable delay before the Home Office began investigating the co-workers’ claims against Gold. Both witnesses did not get on well with the claimant, which was not adequately considered by the investigating manager. Other failings in the disciplinary process identified by the tribunal included the disciplinary hearing relying on evidence gathered during interviews carried out by the same investigating manager; the investigating manager drawing conclusions that were “unreliable” and “went beyond her mandate”; the respondent basing its decisions on witness statements that were in a different format to those given to Gold; and failing to give Gold “the benefit of the doubt”.

Judge Timothy Russell said: “Essentially, there appears to have been insufficient concern to make the procedure fair for this employee. The focus was, whilst attempting to follow Home Office procedure, to find fault with the claimant and either ignore or give no or little credence to his alternative explanation.

The tribunal said the Home Office should have considered further training for Gold, which would have “reflected the stated purpose of the disciplinary procedure”.