A vegan Glasgow Subway worker has been awarded £13,000 by an employment tribunal after her manager waived meat in her face and goaded her to eat food she is highly allergic to.
Kady Reilly complained that her boss also served dairy cheese to vegan customers when they ran out of plant based versions and left food out for hours.
And when she believed her concerns were ignored by RT Management Bridgeton Limited, who owned the franchise, the mum of two called on environmental health to investigate. When the council looked into her complaint, she was sacked.
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A Glasgow tribunal was told that Ms Reilly started working at the Subway within a petrol station on London Road in August 2020.
It heard that she does not use products which contain animal substances, brings up her children as vegan and takes part in peaceful activism and fundraises for animal charities.
The panel was told Miss Reilly suffered from long term health problems which would leave her fatigued, and she would have to take up to three days to recover after working.
She challenged Mr Lahar about covid steps that were not being taken.
The panel heard he told one male worker to come into work, although he'd been told to isolate for 14 days as he had been identified as a close contact of a positive case.
The tribunal was told that over the course of her employment Mr Lahar - who was aware of her health issues - made various comments, including that she was being 'experimented on' and was a 'science experiment'.
The panel heard Miss Reilly carried an Epi-pen and later told Mr Lahar about her veganism after which he laughed at her, made jokes and encouraged her to handle and eat meat.
"She described being 'shocked' at Himanshu Lahar's flippant attitude towards allergies and the possible consequences of a person consuming a substance which they had a severe allergic reaction to," the hearing was told.
"She said that she had 'never been disrespected in a work environment before'.
"She described the process which she was going through at the time to obtain a diagnosis as 'very stressful'.
"[She] described her employment with the respondent as 'a really poor experience' and 'very stressful'."
Mr Lahar would change the dates on out of date lettuce, refused to throw away meatballs that had been left out for 10 hours and continued to serve dairy cheese to those who asked for the vegan option despite her protesting, the panel heard.
Additionally, Miss Reilly told the hearing she would have to dispose of her used sanitary products on the forecourt of the petrol station as no bin was provided in the staff loo which left her feeling 'humiliated'.
But she claimed Mr Lahar told her she was the only woman 'of menstruating age' who used the toilet and simply told her to use the bin in the kitchen, the panel heard.
Consequently, in September 2020, she contacted Environmental Health and an inspection was carried out, and as a result, Mr Lamar was told to introduce covid measures and provide a sanitary bin.
The panel heard Mr Lamar said to her: "'They asked about the bin. That's what you asked about wasn't it?
"They asked about the date stickers. That's what you asked about, as well, didn't you?"
Then in October 2020 she was fired and told she had not passed her probationary period.
Miss Reilly then took RT Management Bridgeton Limited to the employment tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal, harassment, unauthorised deductions from wages and that she had not had uninterrupted rest breaks.
She won each of her claims, with the tribunal ruling Mr Lamar had harassed her and that the principal reason she was sacked was because she had made the protected disclosures.
Employment Judge Claire McManus concluded: "We were satisfied on the basis of [her] evidence that her belief in veganism perpetrates her life and how she lives her life.
"[She] showed that her practice of veganism is a belief intrinsic to her sense of identity.
"We were satisfied that for [Miss Reilly], veganism is a philosophical belief within the meaning of section 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and is a protected characteristic for her."
Miss Reilly is now due to receive £12,636.40.
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