West Wickham KFC franchisee to pay £70k fine over ‘slave’ comment

A south-east London KFC franchisee has been made to pay nearly £70,000 after a manager called an Indian worker a “slave” and forced him to work extra hours, a tribunal heard.

Madhesh Ravichandran, from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, began working at the West Wickham KFC branch in January 2023.

Two months later, Mr Ravichandran was refused annual leave and heard his boss Kajan Theiventhiram telling a colleague he would prioritise Sri Lankan Tamil staff and referred to the claimant as “this slave”, the tribunal was told.

Tribunal judge Paul Abbott found that Mr Ravichandran was wrongfully dismissed and subjected to direct race discrimination, harassment related to race and victimisation.

Months after Mr Ravichandran overheard the comments, he resigned but no real investigation took place into his allegations, the tribunal found.

He was “upset and humiliated” and the refusal of his leave request was “significantly influenced” by his race, the judge said.

Judge Abbott accepted the claimant’s evidence that he was being forced to work excessive hours because of Mr Theiventhiram’s “racially prejudiced attitude” towards him.

The claimant was awarded £66,800 in compensation and the tribunal recommended that Nexus Foods Limited, which operates the West Wickham KFC branch, implements a training programme for all employees concerning discrimination in the workplace.