Can I offer my apologies in advance dear reader for this is a lengthy article. I'm always under pressure to concisely summarise people's experience of racism to facilitate easy reading and quick consumption.
Sometimes that's possible without detracting from the essence of the story however I've chosen not to do that on this occasion a number of reasons;
the first is, in the context of the black lives matter movement summarisation of the black experience is a reductive one, much like being subsumed under the anonymising label BAME;
the second reason is that black workers who suffer racism in the workplace are almost universally, deeply reluctant to complain. Most will question themselves, before making a complaint. Economic insecurity means many will keep their head down and their mouths closed in order to keep their jobs.
They know, and we know, that to raise such complaints is to literally raise hell. The consequences of a racist culture that breeds fear insecurity and intimidation means that black workers are long-suffering, their experience of micro-aggression and the conspiracy to deny objective truth, takes place over time and is therefore on many occasions an invariably complex and lengthy tale.
Its why many a rarely believed, but if you listen with intent, what can first appear as wild, paranoid imaginings can reveal themselves as the granular detail, the texture, and for those of us with lived experience, the taste and smell of a pervasive culture of racism.
When we do complain it's usually after months, sometimes years of suffering without complaint.
So dear reader, I make no apologies for this long and complicated tale. I have tried my best to make it as concise as possible but I think to do justice to this story and to illuminate the dynamic complexity of racism within the workplace I could do no other than tell the story as it is.
I think we must understand the minutiae and detail that provides the pixels for the bigger picture, that illuminates the experience of black workers in the corporate environment.
The individuals are anonymized for legal reasons, however, these matters will eventually be heard in the Employment Tribunal at some point, where all of the individuals referenced here will be named. I will ensure you are alerted and all is revealed when that takes place.
The reasons for the complexity is the simple fact that black workers tend not to want to complain about racism in the workplace.
Many live in the hope that, once they bring these issues to the attention of management informally, that their employer would support them in dealing with them. They are almost invariably and routinely disappointed.
When we do finally complain it tumbles from our traumatised mouths like a cascade of emotion and incoherence. The constant denial of reality induces paranoia. But that does not mean we don't have enemies.
So take a deep breath, grab a cup of mint tea, make yourself comfortable in your seat, bear with me, you will not be disappointed, you will be shocked, angered, but unsurprised at what you are about to read.
Workplace racism.
When it comes to racism, microaggressions form the bulk of the lived black experience. Most black people have been in the situation of entering a store only to be followed by security, but retail racism doesn't just affect customers. Despite the reality of African and Caribbean customer brand loyalty, increasing numbers of horror stories of workplace racism are emerging out of the retail sector.
Claims of workplace racism, informal or formal, are treated like essential truths; they almost always start their lives as blasphemies.
Invariably let down by management, they then find themselves in a declining vortex of discrimination and victimisation that drives many to suffer acute stress, anxiety and sometimes severe ill-health. That's the reality of racism in the workplace for black employees.
Such racism becomes a life stressor of unimaginable proportions dominating every aspect of your working life. Black people, slow to complain; suffer workplace racism that is often complex and multi-layered experiences that are invariably difficult for those without lived experience to understand.
With big brand names like Tesco, one of the biggest food retail stores in the UK, publicly committing to the issues of anti-racism and equality raised by the Black Lives Matter movement, their black employees suffer the degradation of racism in the workplace. The yawning gap between anti-racist corporate rhetoric and workplace reality is as wide as the Grand Canyon. That's why so many black employees have responded with anger and outrage at the plethora of corporate anti-racist statements that have published of late in the media. Tesco is one such company.
Retail racism.
The retail sector is an area of employment where very few workers enjoy the protection of trade unions, and where examples of racism can constitute some of the workplace racism in the United Kingdom.
Here in the UK, racism in the workplace has seen a massive increase of late, and this affects lots of African and Caribbean's working in the retail sector. A recent report found that over 41% of millennial workers reported they had experienced or witnessed racism in the workplace.
A recent University of Manchester report on racism in the workplace found that over 70% of ethnic minority workers said they had experienced racial harassment at work in the last five years; with over 60% saying they have been subject to unfair treatment because of their race.
And some of our biggest name brands such as Tesco constitute the worst offenders; while simultaneously benefitting from the support of a massive black customer base who contribute millions of pounds to their profit margins, the black staff suffer in silence.
Recent demonstrations by the Black Lives Matter movement have only served to exacerbate these issues, highlighting the gap in terms of racism in the workplace between rhetoric and reality. And while chief executives of companies such as Tesco's Dave Lewis make grand proclamations in support of the BLM movement, their corporate practices remain deeply infected with a culture of racism.
That being said, bear with me as we excavate the details of the experiences of two African Caribbean employees, one man and a woman, both of whom were victimised and suffered a hellish experience beyond comprehension. It's a long read; but that I apologise in advance, for the issues at hand are so severe, so damaging for black people that it requires both patience and perseverance when seeking to understand the deep dynamics of institutionalised racism culture within the corporate sector.
Tesco. A case to answer.
Here is the case of Mr B, one of the few black Senior Tesco Express Store Managers in the country, and despite being an exemplary manager had to lodge an Employment Tribunal and civil claim for defamation against Tesco and three white colleagues. We will call him Mr B to protect his identity.
In a recent interview with me, he revealed how his ex-employer Tesco and three white employees carried out a racially motivated campaign against him that culminated in his dismissal in September 2019. Before that, he suffered a series of ongoing microaggressions and frustration throughout his career with Tesco.
A little background, in 2013, Mr B made a complaint against his Area Manager and HR manager after he received an unjustified inadequate performance assessment. The same HR manager (who we will call Mrs D, who is white British) will subsequently play a vital role in the unfair treatment of Mr B. His complaint was upheld in 2014 by another HR manager who stated that the treatment received by Mr B was unfair. Mrs D was unhappy with that outcome.
And then we have Mrs C, a white female member of Mr B's team, who had a serious complaint lodged against her by a Pakistani member of staff in May 2018. Mr B refused to be involved in the hearing the charge because he did not want to be accused of being biased in support of Mrs C, who he had personally trained and developed to fulfil her role.
Mrs C was very unhappy that Mr B had declined to be involved in the complaint process. She now allied herself with the now aggrieved Mrs D and they both conspired together to make false allegations against Mr B.
What followed was an organised conspiracy to target Mr B by both junior and senior Tesco employees. That conspiracy involved attempts to manufacture false and malicious complaints against him.
What was to follow for Mr B was a living nightmare.
In May 2018, Mrs C and a Shift Leader who we shall call Mrs E (woman of Indian origin), complained that Mr B used aggressive and inappropriate tone in his WhatsApp communication with his staff team. He had raised this issue after seeing the store in a mess. He had advised his Tesco team via a WhatsApp (WA) recording (the preferred Tesco communication management tool) that they all needed to improve their performance.
Mrs C and Mrs E complained about Mr B's message. Mrs E was underperformance management at the time, and as a result, they were now both united in their desire to malign Mr B's character. What Mr B didn't realise at the time, was that Mrs D was gunning for him too.
Mr B had been informed by Mrs D that the complaint against Mrs C was to be thoroughly investigated; however, this was not the case. There was covert activity afoot by Mrs D, who would use this complaint to launch a secret undercover investigation into Mr B.
Stay with me on this.
Mrs C and Mrs E were close friends and had worked together for many years. They attended a Tesco training event and used that as an opportunity, to make a malicious allegation about Mr B to a senior Tesco Area manager. They accused him of making threats of violence towards them in May 2018. They told the Area manager running the event (who we will call Mrs F, a white Dutch woman) that 'they feared for her lives".
Mrs F immediately called a Tesco Senior Complaint Investigator (who we will call Mr A, who is White British) who promptly arrived at the training event and took a detailed statement from both Mrs C and Mrs E.
This case had gone from 0-100 in a hot second, and no one told Mr B about this complaint for reasons that will become apparent.
Read on dear reader.
By way of background, Mr B's Tesco store had one of the highest incidents of store violence, racial harassment and physical assault against staff and customers in the region. Some of the incidences were so serious that the perpetrators were tried and convicted. Mr B had asked for support when a member of the public was stabbed and murdered nearby of his store.
Tesco did not respond to his requests for assistance. His store was in a violent area. Two previous store managers had taken long term leave with stress, such was the pressure of managing this particular store. Mr B had worked in this environment unsupported by Tesco management for four long years from 2015 -2019.
The aggrieved Mrs D still smarting from Mr B's above-mentioned successful performance management complaint, then took a grip of the allegations of his two disgruntled staff members. She launched what is known in Tesco's as a 'cultural investigation' or what I'd call a fishing trip.
Allegedly, this was a formal investigation looking into Mr B's store management practices. Mrs D appointed yet another Tesco investigator to look into this issue.
It was bizarre his staff had made a 'threat to life' complaint and even weirder, was no action or formal investigation was launched by Tesco's. However, there was method in this madness.
If Tesco truly believed that the complainants, Mrs C and Mrs E were "fearful for their lives", why did they not investigate, call the police and immediately suspend Mr B?
Instead, Mrs C and Mrs E continued working with him, and this is where the plot begins to thicken. All the while, Mr B had no idea of the grave allegations that had been made against him.
Later we were to find out that the 'threat to life' allegation was being discussed in a specially created Tesco WA group by Mrs F (Area manager at the training event) and Mrs D the aggrieved HR manager.
The conversations centred around the pros and cons of whether or not Mr B should be informed of the complaint.
They also planned to conspire to build a false case against him and use their influence wherever needed to support their plan. Standard Tesco practice is that any complaint would be immediately communicated to a staff member the same day. Mr B was not informed of this complaint until 15 days later.
Mr B was surprised to be told about the new 'cultural investigation'.
This was explained to him as being a result of the WA message complaint by two members of his 22 strong staff team. What the aggrieved Mrs D and Mrs F were actually doing was furtively looking to assemble further manufactured evidence in an attempt to substantiate the false 'threat to life' complaint.
It didn't work. All they got, by way of evidence, were glowing reviews from the vast majority of Mr B's staff team with the notable exceptions of course of Mrs C and Mrs E.
You're doing just fine dear reader, stay with me, hold that focus.
Mr B still working this time received a call from another Tesco store manager, asking if anyone wanted any overtime.
Mr B rang staff team including Mrs C to enquire if anyone wanted these extra hours.
No sooner had he made the call when Mr B then received a call from the cultural investigator, Mr A, who screaming and shouting at Mr B accused Mr B of placing Mrs C in jeopardy.
What was apparent later on is that Mr A thought Mr B knew of the 'threat to life' complaint.
What triggered the call, was Mr A was actually in a meeting with Mrs C at the time Mr B had made the overtime call.
The reaction of Mr A made no sense to Mr B. Remember, Mr B still had no idea that Mrs C had made serious allegations against him. He was shocked and confused by Mr A's call.
At a Tesco store manager meeting days after this incident, Mr A was in attendance, as well as the aggrieved Mrs D, and a Tesco area manager who we will call Mrs F was running the training event where the 'threat to life' complaint was initially raised.
As Mr B was waiting outside the training room, where all these alphabet characters were staring at him. At the same meeting, a new investigator was assigned to continue the cultural investigation on Mr B due to the fact that Mr A had said that he felt threatened by Mr B from the overtime phone call that had taken place days prior.
Mr B did not find out why the cultural investigator had changed, until months later.
Mrs F rang Mr B the next day to inform him, that because of the findings of the 'cultural investigation' he'd now been put forward for a formal disciplinary.
The conclusion they reached was that Mr B's management style as illustrated by his WA message advising his team to improve their performance was the reason he was to be disciplined.
Now bear in mind there is still no mention of Mrs C and Mrs E's 'fear for their lives' complaint.
As a result of the "cultural investigation" and the forthcoming disciplinary investigation, Mr B was told he was to be moved to another store.
Mr B now stressed, confused and angry, formally complained about the whole process and was forced to take a month off with work-related stress.
On his return, he meets with Mrs F, and she tells him he's moving to another store whilst they arrange his "cultural investigation" disciplinary hearing for the 4th July 2018.
At this first meeting, Mr B vigorously challenges the cultural investigation, flimsy insubstantial evidence and the flawed process, and as a result, Tesco is forced to re-investigate aspects of complaints and points raised.
They call him back to a second disciplinary meeting on the 19th & 20th of July 2018 where he presents large amounts of detailed evidence in his defence.
Through a freedom of information request that would be made later on in this process, it would later become apparent that the aggrieved Mrs D the HR manager, had an extraordinarily active role behind the scenes in directing of all of these disciplinary investigations and process.
We were to find out later, that the outcome of the disciplinary process had been predetermined by Tesco senior managers, months in advance.
Mrs D knew the intended outcome a month in advance of the disciplinary meeting concluding. Her boss had decided Mr B would be issued a final written warning, in advance of the disciplinary process coming to a final conclusion and before Mr B's evidence, had been heard.
Mr B was given a final written warning despite the evidence he provided. As a result of this traumatic experience, Mr B's mental health began to deteriorate.
The fact he was not sacked was a massive disappointment to Mrs C and Mrs E, who had been assured by Mrs F that Mr B was a dangerous bully and would not coming back to the store.
It's now August 2018 and Mr B is unhappy and deeply stressed, sensing that Tesco was about to sack him at any time. They couldn't justify a dismissal first time around.
Mr B decided he would raise an appeal against the final written warning in August 2018 but was forced to send his request and grounds for appeal to the aggrieved Mrs D, who he would later find out was conspiring against him.
His grievance encapsulated his suspicions that management was out to get him. Still, this complaint was not, at this stage informed by the freedom of information detail that would come later and confirm his suspicions.
We now know that the aggrieved Mrs D on receipt of the appeal then sends an email, to her fellow HR colleague requesting 'negative information' on Mr B 'as he was making complaints' about senior Tesco managers.
Back at Mr B's old store, Mrs C mentions that she had not had all her annual leave days to the new manager who had replaced Mr B.
The new manager raises this with the aggrieved Mrs D. She instructs her to do another investigation in August 2018 about how Mr B had managed holidays, knowing and hoping, that this could lead to his dismissal were he to be found to have breached the process.
Again Mr B was not informed of the complaint, and Tesco managers started to have multiple meetings with staff members seeking to generate more substantive charges against him.
Staff members at Mr B's old store were unhappy at the new holiday investigation. They reported to Mr B that they were being dragged into another attempt to discriminate against him. They had told Tesco investigators that they believed Mr B was being victimised.
They also mentioned that a white Tesco manager had handled holidays in precisely the same way. Mr B then submitted a further grievance about the fact that Tesco had launched yet another undercover investigation that they had not disclosed to him and highlighted the comparison that a white manager had done precisely the same thing with no action taken.
Only then did Tesco drop this disciplinary investigation
In September 2018 Tesco wanted to push a facilitated meeting between Mrs C, Mrs E and Mr B as they had planned to return him back to manage his original store.
Two facilitated meetings took place between Mr B, Mrs C and Mrs E, and all staff were informed that Mr B was to return. Almost immediately, Mrs C once again tried to drum up yet another false complaint about Mr B.
On his return to his old store, he raises concerns that his outstanding complaints and appeals that had not yet been dealt with by Tesco.
At this stage, it is crucial to remember Mr B still had no idea about Mrs C and Mrs E 'fear for their lives' complaints.
Tesco senior management promised him that they would fully support him in returning to the store and having no idea of the broader conspiracy, he felt that the company was now, at last, being supportive.
He thought that the company believed that Mrs C and Mrs E had simply overreacted to his initial WA message asking his team to improve their performance and that Tesco had now seen the error of their ways.
Tesco managers, Mrs D and Mrs F had secretly hoped that if they left Mr B unsupported, and encouraging Mrs C that more false complaints would be generated, and they could finally find a pretext to sack him.
Now, as you can imagine, at this stage, Mr B was at the end of his tether. He had suffered acute work-related stress and was feeling the weight of the conspiracy around it. In a further twist, Mrs F had instructed him to investigate Mrs C as a result of a customer allegation of assault by Mrs C.
This was even though Mrs F was fully aware of Mrs C's 'threat to life' accusations against him. However, the desired effect was to create a situation that would require Mr B to address Mrs C's behaviour, in the hope that it would generate further accusations and complaints against Mr B.
We would later find out through the freedom of information request that this was precisely their plan.
Tesco was relentless in attempting to set him up to fail. Having met Mrs C regarding the customer assault complaint, Mr B told a colleague of Mrs D that he was worried about Mrs C's mental and emotional health as she was continually crying in their meeting.
Unbelievably, two days after that discussion, Mr B was to discover, he was then subjected to an anonymous complaint that his bullying had resulted in team leaders crying. ergo Mrs C.
Again, he was not informed at the time the charge was made, and Tesco managers once again held a series of meeting with Mr B's staff without this knowledge.
On 20th December 2018, in his Tesco store, Mrs C then had an altercation with Mr B that was witnessed by another member of staff.
She swore and shouted at Mr B in front of the staff team. Mr B called Mrs C to the office to speak to her about her unacceptable behaviour. Mr B informed his line manager on the same day, and the guidance he received was that he should go back and have another conversation with Mrs C. This constant inaction and pushing together of Mr B and Mrs C was an attempt by Tesco managers to create a situation that would justify the sacking of Mr B
Reluctantly and under protest, Mr B sought to have another conversation with Mrs C. What he did not know at the time was that Mrs C had covertly recorded the altercation incident hoping to entrap Mr B into losing his cool.
Steady now, we're almost there...brilliant well done...
Mrs C was also at this stage fully aware that a few weeks earlier, the aggrieved Mrs D had made, what should've been a fatal and catastrophic error on her part.
She accidentally shared her conspiratorial WA conversations (some 40 pages of text revealing Tesco managers collective attempts to get rid of Mr B). Also, she inadvertently included his medical information which she shared with a wide range of Tesco WA staff groups.
Mr B was informed by a colleague and upon reading these texts, was rightly furious. As one can imagine the stress and ill-health this induced was unbelievable. He complained to the Independent Information Commissioners Office for breaches of data protection, and they upheld his complaint.
Tesco then unbelievably refused to take any action against Mrs D.
Even though the texts revealed horrendous racist commentary and a covert conspiracy to get rid of Mr B. Despite this she was afforded all the privileged support Tesco could offer in stark contrast to Mr B.
At his new grievance hearing on the 13th December 2018, about his complaint that Tesco management was out to get him, Tesco refused to allow him to cite any of this new WA evidence in his defence.
Tesco bizarrely claimed that all this new evidence would be subject to a new investigatory process. The fact is they couldn't accept this new evidence without conceding he was the victim of a deep management conspiracy.
This was entirely in breach of the rules on natural justice and indeed, Tesco's grievance procedures. Although the grievance hearing was on the 13th December 2018, Tesco would not deal with the grievance appeal until 16th December 2019 and would not conclude that process until May 2020.
Mr B was always treated differently, and Tescos constantly changed the rules and departed from Tesco policy as an when they pleased.
None of Mr B's major complaints was upheld and at the meeting where he was informed that his complaint had been thrown out, he also found out, for the first time, that his appeal process re his final written warning had been decided, and no one from Tesco had been bothered to contact him to inform of the decision, in relation to this matter, his ie. his appeal against final written warning. Unsuprisingly Tesco told him that once again his appeal was not upheld.
Two days later, yet another complaint was generated. This time it was a utterly false and malicious anonymous protector line complaint about Mr B's alleged aggressive management style.
This was a result of his reluctant handling of the Mr C investigation during which she had cried. Mr B was kept in the dark for over six weeks about the anonymous complaint before being suspended.
By this time, Mr B is entering an acute depression; his body is breaking down, his mental health deteriorating by the minute. The constant conspiracy, the undermining, the mental torture, the denial of truth was all taking his toll.
But the nightmare continued. What has later been discovered as a result of the freedom of information request was that, during the period when Mr B had only recently returned to the store, Mrs C was encouraged by the aggrieved Mrs D and Mrs F to submit further complaints. As a result subsequently wrote to Tesco HR, complaining that Mr B had been negative.
That was the totality of her complaint-that Mr B had been negative in conversations with her. It is clear to us that Mrs C was either convinced or coerced to manufacture that complaint.
By 2nd January 2019, Mr B received the outcome of his grievance appeal with Tesco stating that while they conceded they should not have removed him from his store, once again all his other complaints were dismissed.
There was an added superficial comment from Tesco managers that they had 'learnt their lesson'.
It's no coincidence that the suspension of Mr B was two days later after the anonymous complaint. (Just recall they had refused to accept the WA messages that clearly and demonstrably proved Mr B had been the victim of a conspiracy).
Mr B was not called into any other meeting to present his complaint in regards the WhatsApp conversations. However, Mrs D was allowed to 'explain' her actions, and Tescos accepted her explanations.
By this time, as you can imagine, Mr B was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
The pressure continued, and once again, Tesco launched yet another cultural investigation. And once again Tesco didn't inform Mr B; however, it soon became apparent to him via his staff team that Tesco was conducting yet another malicious investigation.
And just like the first one, this second cultural investigation resulted in nothing but praise for Mr B from all those interviewed with the notable exceptions of Mrs C and Mrs E, and one additional member of staff, all of whom were later discovered to be part of another WA group that openly discussed their attempts to get Mr B unfairly sacked.
As his health deteriorated, he was left in limbo and received no communication from Tesco from January 2019 until early March. In the investigation that was to follow, there was no mention of the anonymous protector line complaint, which was the reason he was suspended.
Tesco now brought forward a new complaint related to speaking to Mrs C negatively (remember her letter to Tesco HR on the 16th November 2018) with a further late additional charge, listen to this one, of kung fu kicking a metal door in his store.
The Tesco investigation manager conducting this second cultural investigation had a conflict of interest. He was also investigating serious complaints from several employees in regards to Mrs C's behaviour. Mrs C was being protected and what was obvious was a total contrast in the way this investigation manager conducted both these investigations. What is brutally revealed here is the stark difference between the oppressive investigation of Mr B and the protective investigation of Mrs C.
The covert recording of the altercation in the store by Mrs C was first played to Mr B during the investigation in March 2019. It showed A partial recording of the incident, but nevertheless, clearly showed that Mrs C was trying to entrap Mr B.
It was also evident in the recording that Mrs C was the only one who swore during that informal meeting that had taken place between herself and Mr B. No one could understand why Tesco was relying on this video to substantiate a disciplinary investigation.
Mr B was very surprised, as there was no additional Tesco store CCTV provided, given this entire story is covered, that would have captured the entire incident. The partial audio recording showed, covertly recorded by Mrs C showed nothing more than him acting calmly under great provocation, no threatening behaviour, no aggression, nothing but an honest and open conversation about Mrs C's behavioural issues.
Furthermore, these are ongoing issues that have since continued and resulted in Mrs C having multiple investigations in 2020 which Tesco have subsequently tried to cover up.
Mr B, in his defence against the altercation allegation, presented witness statement from staff members who were there at the time and who fully corroborated his full version of events.
The Tesco investigation manager ignored this evidence, and neither spoke to nor interviewed any of the staff witnesses. This is the same investigator who we now know, as a result of the freedom of information request made at the end of this awful nightmare, had previously told Mrs C in a private meeting, that she was entirely justified in making her complaint against Mr B, even before he'd heard Mr B's defence.
When challenged about his failure to investigate interview staff members who witnessed the altercation incident with Mrs C he retorted that he "knows the type of person Mr B is" having met him twice, once for a few hours and the second time for only 15 minutes.
In concluding that Mr B was guilty, the investigator provided no other evidence other than his opinion. When Mr B demanded to see all evidence relied upon for Mrs C's complaint, the evidence presented was shoddy, full of inconsistencies, evidential gaps holes and was replete with stereotypical statements and racial stereotypes.
Mr B now wracked with sickness was signed off with acute stress, required counselling, medication having developed night sweats and panic attacks and suffered a nervous breakdown. Then having been suspended for a total period of eight months, he was eventually recalled by Tesco in July 2020.
After three meetings, Tesco summarily dismissed Mr B on the 5th September for allegedly using an aggressive tone.
The case now awaits a hearing in the Employment Tribunal where the identities and the details of those referred to in this article will be revealed.
Conclusion.
Mr B who is well-liked within his local community (he gives his time to support the homeless and coaches youth football), said he had been left "utterly destroyed" by the experience.
He has had over one year of counselling and CBT therapy to help him pick up the pieces of his life due to the treatment he received during his employment with Tesco.
The trauma of his experience continues, but today he simply has to take every day as it comes. And although, he no longer works at Tesco, he continues to have night sweats, has lost a lot of weight, and has trouble sleeping and has to take medication to manage the anxiety and depression. Mr B told me;
"It's the mental scars that I find so hard to shake off. Why did they do this to me, and why did no one do anything to stop it? I looked for fairness; and in every meeting, there was the same type of people ignoring what was clear. What even really shocked me, was to be told in the last disciplinary meeting that I had an unconscious bias against Mrs C. It was clear this was a joke to them".
Mr B states;
"I would not wish this experience on anyone. For many years, I was the only black store manager in the region, but I just did my job and did not let it weigh on me even though I was ignored for promotion when I had the highest score out of all the candidates. I would work twice as long and as hard as my white store manager colleagues and would be put in the most challenging stores.
I delivered double-digit sales growth, and because they could not challenge my performance, they picked and picked and picked at my soul. I gave my best years and time and effort and delivered sales and profit but what was even more hurtful was the treatment from the organisation I'd been with for a total of 15 years. I was devastated.
Each part of the process left me feeling even more devoid. This whole thing, especially over the last three years, has taken a tremendous toll on my mental and physical health. No one wanted to investigate the truth. I had to investigate and provide the evidence which they ignored."
The management culture of Tesco's seems to be deeply dysfunctional and what is absolutely clear from this case is that a black man was brought to the brink of clinical depression and mental health breakdown as a consequence of an organised conspiracy to illegally and wrongfully sack him.
The next example of Tesco's racism is mercifully shorter I will publish tomorrow Sunday 5th July 2020.
This case once again illustrates the culture of racism that seems to be part of the management DNA of the Tesco brand.
If you know somebody who suffered similarly whilst working in Tesco's do send them my way.
In the meantime thank you so much for taking the time to read the forensic detail of how Tesco sought to destroy a consummate black professional, bringing him to his knees with the oppressive management practices and explicit racism.
