A Muslim shop worker has won nearly £30,000 after she claimed her boss at a posh greengrocer threw rotten fruit at her and told her to wear “tighter clothes”. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, started working for Engin Babur at Elisa Organic and Whole Foods in Shepherd's Bush, west London, in June last year.
She also claims he brandished a knife in her face during a row over corn on the cob and mimicked her Cockney accent before telling her to “speak posh” to customers. The employee won her claim for sex harassment at the London Employment Tribunal and has now been awarded £27,715.56.
In a witness statement, the woman said: “Whilst working at the shop, no day went by without Mr Babur shouting at me accusing me of something, slamming a door, banging a fist or throwing rotten fruit. He claimed I was trying to take over the shop and said I am the worker and should do as I am told. He said I was a worker, nothing else because I am nothing else, just a piece of s**t.”
The woman also claimed Babur waved a knife in her face when she asked him a question about corn on the cob. She said: “He snatched it out my hand and threw it in the bin. He was working in the kitchen and had a large knife in his hand.
“He pointed the knife at me and said: ‘Listen to me and listen carefully. I have had enough of your b******t. Don’t come in here asking for help, you should know better’.” She said he waved the knife in her face and told her: “I don’t like this scarf covering your body, take this off, take your cap off too.
“Put some make-up on your face and wear some nice tight clothing.” As she left, she claimed he heard him use a racial slur about her and comment that she “should not mess with a Turk”.
She told the tribunal his behaviour made her feel “humiliated, belittled and fearful” and she has lost her trust in men. She said she suffered with depression and anxiety for four months after working for Babur.
The woman said: “I take my children to Friday prayers but I can't drop them off outside the mosque as there's too many men there. I park two streets away when I drop them off and I don't pick them up. It is too stressful to wait for them.
“I had no social life. I didn’t want to see people or use social media. I haven't been meeting up with others, I just spend time with my kids and new partner. I don’t go shopping as much as I used to as I don't like to go outside.
“I worry about going through the same issues as I had with Engin and I don't know when I will be ready to find work again.”
She also won claims for failing to pay wages and holiday pay, failure to provide an employment contract and conduct entitling her to terminate her employment without notice. Elisa Organic and Whole Foods no-longer occupies the unit where the alleged incidents took place.
