Rediff

London, Feb 13: Honda has been ordered to pay 64,000 pounds to an Indian worker who was forced to quit after suffering racial abuse at work.

Kalmesh Shah, 30, moved to the UK from Gujarat in April 2004, and joined Honda in October that year. Shah, who worked at the factory for nearly two years, was allegedly moved randomly between production line jobs without training, bullied and refused toilet breaks by his supervisor. His poor treatment led to a deterioration in his physical and mental health following which he quit.

Shah took Honda to a tribunal that finally ruled in his favour despite an attempt by managers to falsify documents and training records in a bid to dispute his claims.

"This was never about the money, it was about standing up to a company that treated me like a third-class citizen because of my race. I was persecuted for speaking out and blowing the whistle," Shah told reporters.

He was awarded 15,000 pounds for injury to his feelings, including 10,000 pounds for psychiatric damage, 18,496.21 pounds for loss of earnings since he resigned, two and half years future loss of earnings of 28,356 plus interest, totalling around 64,000 pounds.

A Honda spokeswoman said: "We have accepted the findings of the Employment Tribunal, some nine months ago, and consider this case to be a very unfortunate 'one-off' and deeply regret the offence to Mr Shah caused by an individual associate".

The tribunal hearing, held in Bristol in June last year, gave its final ruling in October but has only recently awarded the financial settlement.

The tribunal ruled: "We consider that there is evidence of a 'cover-up' on the shop floor, of the fact that untrained employees were being used to avoid having to stop the line."