“I cant believe how many hoops you have to go through to get justice!” Clive Henry

After over a year of legal battles former UPS employee Clive Henry who was suing his employer for race discrimination has lost his appeal case with the European Commission but vows to fight on.

Clive Henry described a campaign of work intimidation and excessive work demands which he said was deliberate to force him out of his job in January 2008. He was asked by a manager to supervise the merge of all the Lynx Courier accounts in his department; only to have his duties taken over in July by a director at Lynx couriers, which is about the time when things began to change for the worse. (read Clive Henry Vs UPS Ltd – Race Discrimination Case pending date in the Court of Appeal)

He was told that he was not meeting new targets which was set about a month after the director of Lynx took over and placed on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) which he says was never authorised by Human Resources (HR).

He was shouted at and given a written warning on a smudged paper which he found unprofessional and insulting.

Clive was the only black employee at the company and the only employee ever to be placed on the PIP.

After being signed off work with occupational stress and being messed about by the HR department regarding his PIP status Clive decided that he had enough and resigned from UPS on March 11, 2010.

He took UPS to a Race Discrimination Tribunal hearing, but said that the judge was biased and rejected key evidence critical to his case which is why he decided to take his fight higher and appeal to the European Commission for Human Rights in Belgium.

Mr Henry informed Minority Perspective recently that the European Commission has rejected his appeal and told him that in their conclusion the case is closed.

The European Commission wrote Mr Henry saying, “We have not been able to identify any breach of EU law by the United Kingdom in your matter” He was also told that national courts are responsible for applying the law in these matters and the Commission could not interfere with national court proceedings.

Clive said, “I have now filed my complaint directly to The European Court of Human Rights in France.”

I cant believe how many hoops you have to go through to get justice!

Whether the European Court of Human Rights in France will provide Clive with the justice he seeks remains to be seen.

Clive’s case, just like Abdul Musa, an Asian Royal Mail worker was was racially abused and suffered a campaign of racist intimidation and threats (read Asian Royal Mail worker wins race discrimination employment tribunal), highlights how serious racism in employment is.

In September I wrote an article about how the coalition government are planning to weaken the equality laws (Read Coalition government plan to weaken equality laws). In this article I highlighted how the future for racial equality was troubling considering the budget cutbacks for voluntary race organisations and even the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

In the future the government plans to introduce fees for workers like Clive Henry who seek justice because of workplace racism. TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber referred to this plan as, “…chequebook justice..”.

This is a crucial time for black and minority ethnic communities to form strong community-funded organisations independent of government finances that can tackle the increasingly unsure future which black and minority workers are going to face.

Letter from European Comission to Clive Henry

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6 thought on “Clive Henry loses race discrimination appeal case with European Commission but vows to fight on”
  1. Please Google: Clive Henry UPS or see Facebook group – Racism is very real – 4 All UPS racism scandal news/radio links – http://www.facebook.com/equalityisajoke or Twitter @clivehenry1

    http://thedrvibeshow.com/vibe-and-vegas-show-clive-henry/ Radio interview about the shocking UPS Human Rights scandal. No.1 listeners in the shows history

    My public Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/clive.henry.96 or cliveh26@gmail.com or Instagram: racism_is_very_real

  2. There is a reason why in the UK a job applicant must make clear to which ethnicity he or she belongs to. I can assure it ain’t to monitor so-called diversity. In my opinion, it is intended assure the opposite. The racial origins of an applicant should be totally irrelevant in giving the right person the position.

  3. I don’t know to be honest. It can seem like cheque book justice, but perhaps it is not such a clear cut racist case.

    It seems like you were untreated fairly , from your side story… but to imply that this was all done simply because of the colour of your skin is a completely different matter.

    Mym (22/11/12), I think you’re wrong. Employers have a responsibilty to show that they do not discriminate – and rightly so. Statements like that only serve to cheapen important arguments. You don’t have to say at all anyway, with “rather not say” and “other” being options. Drawing the “race/gender/sexual preference/age/religion” card can only be done if it is clear that this was explicitly used against an individual. If it becomes the default position then you are doing nothing positive for equality.

    I wish you luck Clive, as I say, from what you have written it seems like you have been unfairly treated by that manager. Whether his actions where racially motivated and how much UPS can be blamed directly, is something I could not say. If the court does not find in your favour though, it does not mean that the entire legal system is racist.

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