Black croupier wins race discrimination case against Mayfair casino Aspinalls

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a former employee was subjected to direct race discrimination after a client demanded that only “white female croupiers” deal for him.

The case involved Ms Semhar Tesfagiorgis, who worked for Crown London Aspinalls for over 13 years.

The casino’s patrons were wealthy individuals and the respondent kept records of their personal preferences. A profile form for one patron stated that he wanted to be served by “Western looking female staff only”. As per the Casino’s policy on unacceptable patron behaviour stated that in the event of unacceptable behaviour, dealers should advise the patron that they could not behave in that manner and then leave the situation and call for a manager.

In 2019 the respondent carried out training on appropriate workplace behaviour. Staff were told that if patrons’ behaviour was challenging they should discreetly notify their manager and “continue to work professionally until given further direction”. Employees were not referred back to the policy on unacceptable patron behaviour.

Shortly after the training on appropriate workplace behaviour, a patron expressed a preference for dealers who were “females with fair skin”. The claimant, and another black female colleague, were on duty but were told that a white male dealer would deal with the patron instead of them.

After this incident the claimant met with a senior manager who assured her that he would investigate the matter to find out why the company policy had not been followed. He stated that the managers involved in the incident were junior and inexperienced.

As a result of the incident that took place, the claimant was then on sick leave from 10 December 2019 to 31 March 2020 with stress. She subsequently took voluntary redundancy on 31 October 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Employment Judge Elliott held that Ms Tesfagiorgis had suffered direct race discrimination when her employer, which operated a casino, accommodated patrons’ requests to be served by white rather than black staff. The employer failed to establish the reasonable steps defence because, while it had a policy concerning unacceptable patron behaviour, it had failed to implement it properly.

However, Employment Judge Elliott dismissed claims bought by the Claimant for direct sex discrimination and sexual harassment.

The case has now been scheduled for a remedy hearing to determine the amount of compensation to be awarded to the Claimant.

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Ms S Tesfagiorgis v Aspinalls Club T/A Crown London Aspinalls & Others
Employment Tribunal
November 2021
Employment Judge George