Mohammed Afzal, who worked for London’s Metropolitan Police Service (the Met), alleged he faced prejudice from colleagues for being gay and Asian.
In a string of complaints against his employer, reported by the London newspaper Metro, he claimed he was “constantly treated as lesser than” his white colleagues, whose hostility made his life “miserable.” He outlined his allegations of an unpleasantly gassy prank that was played on him by an “officer farting and waving the odor towards me.” He added other officers told him he smelled of garlic and had urged him to resign.
But Employment Judge Rachel Barker threw out his case this week, saying he had failed to provide any information in support of his case, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
Afzal had taken the Met to an employment tribunal, which is not quite the same as a court, but is the British method of dealing with the legal process relating to some work-based issues, such as unfair dismissal or discrimination.
An employment judge meets with representatives of the employer, often their lawyers, as well as a representative of the claimant – although many workers choose to represent themselves to save costs. The worker must outline their allegations against their employer, before being questioned by their former company’s representatives who put forward their own case, so that the judge can make a ruling.
According to the Daily Mail report, Barker concluded: “Mr. Afzal was wholly unable to identify facts that indicate he may be able to show that the Met was racist, or prejudiced against him on the basis of his sexual orientation or religious beliefs in 2019 and 2020.
“He has provided the tribunal with no information whatsoever as to how he says the Met discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation or religious beliefs in 2019 and 2020.”
This is reportedly the second time Afzal’s claims have been dismissed; he also unsuccessfully tried to sue the Met for the same reasons back in 2018.
However, the tribunal is still set to consider one other accusation – that Afzal was effectively “forced to resign” after he received an autism diagnosis in December 2018.
Until then, Afzal had worked at Colindale police station in the north London borough of Barnet, but around the time of his diagnosis, he was moved to a police station in Wembley in northwest London. He first joined the force in March 2017.
Afzal says he does not believe that he has autism but accepted the diagnosis because he thought it would help “protect him in the workplace,” according to the Metro. But he claims he was given only “restricted duties” afterward and decided to quit because he felt sure the Met was not going to give him a job after his job’s probation period finished.
Another hearing has reportedly been scheduled for December.
Newsweek has reached out to the Met for further information and comment.
Bodily functions were at the heart of other criminal allegations back in 2018 when a 37-year-old Florida woman was arrested after threatening to “gut” a stranger who complained about her flatulence in a store. The police complaint affidavit reported that the altercation started “in reference to the defendant farting loudly.”
That same year, a Florida security guard was fired from the Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center after posting videos online of him farting while on the job in uniform.