A black waitress has been awarded a £16,000 payout as part of a racism case after her boss demanded she remove her wig – before trying to physically take it off himself.
Angelica Vial, 18, said she felt ‘flustered and deeply uncomfortable’ when Sadeq Alsafar repeatedly suggested she remove the hair piece she wore to shield her braids from the cold.
She was then ‘humiliated’ when the 50-year-old proceeded to grab strands of it and try to yank it off, an employment tribunal heard.
The panel ruled that by doing so, the Iraq-born restaurant owner and chef had racially harassed her.
She has been awarded £16,753 in compensation after successfully suing Mr Alsafar for race harassment and constructive dismissal.
The hearing was told that Ms Vial began working at the Mazaj Arabic Charcoal Grill in Dundee, Scotland, in October 2021 while she was a university student.
The tribunal – held in the city – heard many of the staff were from an Arabic background.
Ms, Vial, who identifies as black, was the only worker there who was biracial and who had Black African heritage.
The hearing was told the teenager’s colleagues ‘gossiped’ about her real hair at work and that there was ‘intense curiosity’ and ‘salacious interest’ in what was underneath her wig.
Shada Alsafar, Mr Alsafar’s wife, and floor manager Ruby Mubariq had a ‘good relationship’ with Ms Vial but in December 2021 ‘gossiped’ about her hair in Arabic.
A tribunal report said: ‘Early in the evening, Ms Vial was standing behind the bar, cleaning glasses. Ruby Mubariq and Shada Alsafar were there. They were chatting to each other in Arabic.
‘Ms Mubariq turned to the claimant and said to her (in English) words along the lines of “we were just gossiping about your hair and whether or not it’s real”.’
When Ms Vial said she was wearing a wig it caused ‘shock’ and moments later Mr Alsafar said to her: ‘Oh, you’re wearing a wig? Why are you wearing a wig?’
The question made her feel ‘flustered and deeply uncomfortable’, and Ms Vial explained she was protecting her real hair, which was braided underneath.
Mr Alsafar replied: ‘Oh? Take it off!’
Now feeling ‘embarrassed’, Ms Vial moved away but the following day Mr Alsafar repeated his request.
The report said: ‘Ms Vial went downstairs to get her belongings from the security room. She came back up with her things and was heading towards the door.
‘Mr Alsafar was standing in front of the door, blocking it.
‘As she tried to pass him out the door, he stopped her and said words to the effect of “no one’s here – take off your wig”.
‘She took a step back from him as he then tried to reach over and grab the wig and pull it off her head.
‘He was smiling. He grabbed strands on the top and pulled. She held on to the wig and tried to adjust it to cover her hair.
‘She moved backwards from him, saying words like “no, no, I don’t want to. It’s stuck on!”
‘Ms Vial was distressed. She felt humiliated and that her personal boundaries had been violated.’
The teenager resigned days later.
She told the tribunal as a result of the ordeal she stopped wearing wigs and became so anxious she stopped socialising.
At the hearing, Mr Alsafar denied all allegations but Employment Judge Lesley Murphy found that he tried to remove the wig after repeatedly requesting she remove it.
The judge ruled the incidents amounted to racial harassment.
Judge Murphy said: ‘When Ms Vial answered the question straightforwardly that her hair was not real, this served only to increase their interest and questioning.
‘Mr Alsafar respondent joined in. Ms Vial did not encourage them with the discussion. She was brief in her answering and gave an explanation that she wore a wig to protect her hair from the cold.
‘She described feeling awkward, flustered, embarrassed, and confused.
‘We could reasonably and properly infer from the facts shown, that the intense curiosity and repeated requests to be shown what was under her wig related to Miss Vial’s biracial background with black African heritage and her disclosure at the time that her hair underneath was braided, a typical style for black afro hair.
‘Mr Alsafar was the claimant’s boss. Ruby Mubariq was her floor manager. They were both in a position of authority and power over Ms Vial.
‘Their conduct demonstrated a salacious interest in her personal appearance which was wholly inappropriate.
‘Repeatedly insisting that she remove her wig, in the face of her refusal, we readily accept violated her dignity and left her feeling intimidated in Mr Alsafar’s presence at work.’
Of the attempted wig removal, Judge Murphy said: ‘Mr Alsafar took unwelcome physical action to try to touch grab at her wig to remove it, despite her alarm and protests.
‘We readily accept that on an objective view of this behaviour, it would violate an employee’s dignity and create an environment that was intimidating and humiliating.’
Ms Vial lost other claims of race harassment and direct race and sex discrimination.
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