Sheffield man felt ‘demonised’ at work after colleague ‘mocked Pakistani accent’ during meeting

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, works as a production manager at AMG Superalloys, a metal processing company based in Rotherham.

Alleged incidents include a video of controversial preacher David Manning shared in a staff WhatsApp group, accents being mocked accents and racist language used.

Although AMG says that an investigation has taken place, the complainant said he does not feel the matter has been resolved and is now uncertain about his future at the company, where he has worked for eight years.

He said: “I’m having my first ever taste of institutional racism at work

“It came to my attention around seven weeks ago. Racist material was circulating in a private WhatsApp to my colleagues.

“Knowing how the company works, myself and my colleague hesitated to raise the issue with senior management for several weeks knowing we would just put targets on our backs."

He claimed a meeting took place where a Pakistani accent was mocked and a phrase 'bloody p**i b*****d' used.

"I’d had enough and reported it," the employee said.

The issue was reported to HR on October 7 and he was called into a meeting. A member of staff was suspended for two days however is now back in work having been given ‘ethnicity training’, according to the complainant.

The employee said: “I’ve been off work and demonised through the company’s lack of empathy. It’s been more about protecting the individual who was accused.

“The investigation is now complete and states that the individual was naive rather than racist.

"He states that the video he was forwarding around was sent to highlight poverty during the period BLM was in the forefront of the press which I find insulting in itself. Then his reason for mocking Pakistanis was a video he saw on Twitter.

"I think it’s important for the public to understand institutional racism still exists.”

A spokesperson for AMG said: “AMG takes equality and diversity seriously and encourages its employees to raise any concerns through the appropriate internal channels.

"This matter is in a confidential internal process, so it would not be appropriate to comment further.”