Sheffield hospital worker wins £28,500 racial harassment payout after colleague made Bruce Lee-style kung fu noises

Sandy Sheun, who is a senior IT engineer for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, was awarded just over £28,500 including interest in compensation for lost earnings and injury to feelings after winning an employment tribunal against his employer.

The tribunal heard how Mr Sheun, who is of Chinese descent, had complained about a colleague mimicking the sounds made by Bruce Lee in martial arts films and pronouncing Tsing Tsao beer in a mock Chinese accent in front of the 42-year-old.

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The employee in question was given a formal warning by the hospitals trust after Mr Sheun made a formal complaint in December 2018 about his behaviour, having earlier complained informally.

In his ruling, Employment Judge Philip Rostant states that ‘there is ample evidence to suggest that the claimant did feel his dignity to be undermined’.

“He complained about the matter on two occasions and, on 14 December, he stood up and angrily challenged his colleagues,” he adds.

The tribunal heard how Mr Sheun grew up in a small English town close to the Welsh border, where he had suffered ‘regular and distressing discriminatory treatment’ which included people making Bruce Lee-style kung fu noises.

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He was off sick for nearly a year from February 2019 after making the complaint.

However, the tribunal found there was ‘no evidence’ to suggest the colleague had made the noises in question ‘with an aim of targeting the claimant and causing him distress’, and they appeared to be a ‘misguided’ attempt at humour.

Kirsten Major, chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are committed to equal opportunities for all of our employees as well as valuing the diversity of our organisation and in the community we serve.

“We are therefore very disappointed that this situation arose and Mr Sheun was left feeling distressed.

“Mr Sheun can be assured that we will learn from what happened and in particular that we will seek to reinforce our values regarding diversity with all of our staff. We apologise again to Mr Sheun for what happened.”