Tesco manager who was sacked when he gave female colleague a vibrator for Secret Santa wins unfair dismissal claim after insisting raunchy gift was bought in 'joking manner'

A Tesco manager who was sacked after giving a female colleague a vibrator for Secret Santa has won an unfair dismissal and race discrimination claim.

Shoaib Razaq gifted Kerry Cliffe the sex toy as part of the Cambridgeshire store's staff Christmas celebrations, an employment tribunal heard.

The recipient of the 'inappropriate gift' insisted it was bought in a 'joking manner' as other staff members handed out butt plugs and dildos.

But Mr Razaq - a married man who later admitted buying the gift was a 'terrible decision' - was sacked from his role as store manager for gross misconduct after an investigation found he 'abused his position of trust'.

He has now successfully sued for unfair dismissal and race discrimination after an employment judge found 'basic steps were not taken' to look into all the allegations correctly.

However, his compensation may be reduced after the tribunal found he had contributed to his firing by buying the vibrator.

The hearing in Cambridge heard Mr Razaq started working for Tesco in January 2020.

While he was employed as store manager at the Hampton Vale Express store in Peterborough an employee at the supermarket raised a grievance against him.

Among other issues, they accused the store manager of allowing members of staff to take part in 'sexual endeavours'.

The employee alleged Mr Razaq had staff members on his lap in the office and took money from charity tins.

The following day another employee, Donna Spriggs, raised a grievance against Mr Razaq and made further allegations including that he 'messed about with young girls in the office'.

She said he also bought a female colleague an inappropriate toy for her birthday.

A grievance investigation was then carried out by Tesco and Ms Cliffe - the recipient of the vibrator - was interviewed as a part of this.

'We all had random gifts, butt plugs and dildos were bought but this was done in a joking manner,' she told the investigator.

Ms Cliffe insisted she had experienced this in other stores.

The store manager was also accused of trying to persuade Ms Spriggs to come to work when she was unwell.

The tribunal was shown several messages which he had sent her on WhatsApp - asking her to come in.

One of these read: 'Is there no way you can push yourself to come in as we are stuck for people.'

Mr Razaq complained he felt as if there was a 'witch hunt' against him and that one person who raised a grievance was a racist.

When asked about the Secret Santa present during a hearing, the manager said that he should not have bought the gift and understood it was a wrong gift to buy.

He was asked what his colleagues and his wife would think about this and he said that his wife did not know and she was jealous.

When asked what he would think if someone bought his partner a gift, he said that he would be angry.

He accepted that it was wrong and could cause problems.

In a second disciplinary meeting, he apologised if he had offended the two employees who raised the grievance.

'I understand that I did wrong with the vibrator,' he said.

Mr Razaq later added it was a 'terrible decision buying the gift'.

The store manager was dismissed for harassment and bullying and the investigating officer concluded he had 'abused his position of trust as a manager'.

She said he had subjected colleagues to harassment by 'inappropriate banter' and 'circulating offensive material'.

Mr Razaq sued the supermarket giant for unfair dismissal and race discrimination.

Upholding his claims, Employment Judge Niran de Silva KC concluded that the investigator did not properly investigate the misconduct allegations and had little concern with what the precise allegations were against the store manager.

The tribunal concluded that her decision was based on a general sense that there was misconduct on the part of Mr Razaq and she was considerably influenced by the two grievances.

The judge said - without addressing whether the disciplinary allegations were true - no reasonable employer would have acted in this way.

He said the 'basic steps were not taken' when looking into the grievance and Mr Razaq's allegations that one of the employees who complained about him was racist.

However, the tribunal warned that the level of compensation he will receive could be reduced due to his behaviour.

'The Tribunal finds that the Claimant contributed to the dismissal by the following conduct which was culpable: giving a vibrator to a colleague as a Secret Santa gift and the WhatsApp messages to Ms Spriggs seeking to persuade her to come into work when she was ill,' EJ de Silva added.

A hearing to decide Mr Razaq's compensation will be held at a later date.