A cleaner has lost his racial harassment claim, which he pursued after one of his colleagues used the term ‘coloured’ to describe black people.

Ryan Justin is black and worked for Atlas Limited at Pure Gym in Derby, where he saw a message from fellow cleaner Markham Pell, who is white, stating "three coloured guys were messing around". The note referred to an incident in which three men where misbehaving in the gym. Justin took exception to the use of the term and confronted Pell to explain why black people would be offended by its use.

Pell immediately apologised and said he didn't mean it to be to be racist. He thought the word ‘black’ was itself offensive and that the use of the term ‘coloured’ would be more “polite”. Following their confrontation, Justin later sent an email telling his boss he resigned because he would "rather walk out than get into any conflict".

Employment Judge Robert Clark described Pell as "a particularly naive and timid" individual who described himself as "being raised in an old-fashioned household".

He said:

"Ironically… [Pell] had chosen this word in the misplaced belief it was more appropriate, albeit he subsequently realised and accepts it could cause offence. We accept he will go some way to avoid confrontation if he can. His own life experiences are such that he is aware of the need to be culturally sensitive and is conscious of not inadvertently offending others, not least because that could itself be the source of the conflict he otherwise tries to avoid.

"Wrongly, [Pell] now understands, he had been anxious about describing anyone as 'black' as he perceived that could be offensive generally. His restricted vocabulary was compounded further when trying to describe individuals from an Asian background as black."

In his witness statement to the tribunal, Justin said:

"Black people have had to put up with offensive name tags or described with offensive racist slurs for many years. However, times have changed and this should not be accepted or considered OK in this current time. The guilty parties should be made to learn what effect this has had on individuals and communities.”

Giving his conclusion, Judge Clark said:

"We agree entirely with that sentiment. Nothing we have concluded should suggest otherwise. The fact that this outdated language was once used descriptively by people who genuinely felt it to be a polite term, is only so because of the less polite alternatives that existed in that past era. We accept white people of a certain age who perhaps have not had much opportunity to benefit from multi-cultural acquaintances in their day-to-day lives may draw on this outdated language in the mistaken belief it is polite and genuinely descriptive.”

Harassment is defined as unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct that violates the dignity of a person or creates a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Justin's claims of harassment both failed and were dismissed.