Woman wins discrimination fight against Leeds United

A black woman, who was passed over four times for promotion, has won a discrimination case against Leeds United.

Yvonne Campbell, who has been working in the catering industry since 1975, was first employed by the football club in 1992 but, despite rising to the position of assistant banqueting manager, she was overlooked when more senior jobs became available. In one instance she had been told that her 30 years of experience in the trade was inadequate for the position, only to see the job go to a man with more limited experience.

When she made a formal grievance against the club, her manager, Alan Hegarty, warned her that he would “sling mud” and would sack her without a reference. Miss Campbell also told the employment tribunal that Mr Hegarty would make racist comments, referring to ethnic minorities as having “come off a banana boat”.

Finding in her favour, the tribunal said that Mr Hegarty had indeed made racist comments although they were some time ago. Noting that only four out of 128 non-playing staff at the football club were from ethnic minority groups, the tribunal’s written judgement said that the way the case had been handled by the club, and the way people had been employed there showed that there had been a “complete disregard of equal opportunities policies and procedures”.

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