Boss harassed me by using word 'golliwog', claims chef: Court to decide if word is inherently offensive to black people



Denise Lindsay worked at university hall of residence in London

Her boss Mark McAleese was discussing removal of character from jars

Robertson's used the controversial character on labels until 2001



Claim: Denise Lindsay has gone to the court to find out if the word 'golliwog' is 'inherently discriminatory'

A black chef claims that her white boss racially harassed her when he mentioned the word ‘golliwog’ during a conversation about the famous Robertson’s jam labels.

Lawyers for Denise Lindsay, 45, claim that the word is ‘inherently discriminatory’ and has ‘racial overtones’ and should not have been used in front of their client.

But her boss Mark McAleese claims that he was talking about the jam label changing and has apologised to her and said that he had no desire to ‘violate her dignity’.

Her lawyers are battling to convince three top judges that the word is inherently offensive to black people and almost always discriminatory - no matter in what context it is used.

Her barrister, Daniel Matovu, told the court: ‘White people don’t get called golliwogs. The word is an overtly racial comment. [The word] golliwog cannot be interpreted in any other way.

‘What the authorities make clear is that, when something is inherently discriminatory and clearly has racial overtones, there is no further debate.’



British jam manufacturers Robertson’s started using the Golly character, dressed in a yellow waistcoat and bow tie, on its jars from 1910.

In the late-1920s, the company started producing popular badges featuring the character, including a golfing, cricketer and footballer version. The items became collectables.

However, the cartoon disappeared from labels in 2002 after decades of controversy and jars of marmalade now feature Paddington Bear.

The company has always insisted that the Golly character was withdrawn for commercial reasons rather than a reaction to the controversy surrounding the figure.

Chef Denise Lindsay is suing her boss for racial harassment after he used the word 'golliwog' in a conversation about the removal of the controversial character from labels of Robertson's jam





Jars of Robertson's marmalade now feature the far less controversial Paddington Bear

Miss Lindsay was working as an assistant chef manager at the LSE’s Bloomsbury student halls in February 2009 when the comment was made by chef manager Mr McAleese.

He used the word while discussing ‘the change to the label of Robertson’s jam’, the court heard.

But Miss Lindsay, of Clapham, south west London, was upset and an employment tribunal later found that what Mr McAleese said amounted to ‘an isolated act of harassment’.

He apologised and said that he had not uttered the word for the ‘purpose of violating her dignity’.

The tribunal ruled: ‘We have concluded that, for a white manager to use the words “golliwog” and “golliwog jam” in the course of a conversation with a black Afro-Caribbean colleague is unwanted conduct.’



However, Miss Lindsay’s harassment claim was dismissed after the tribunal said it had been brought too late.

Denise Lindsay's complaint relates to her time working at a London School Of Economics hall of residence in Bloomsbury

Whether that decision was justified is one of the central issues now being considered by the Appeal Court judges.

Miss Lindsay’s other complaints of race discrimination were dismissed by the tribunal and, although she still has an active victimisation claim, she is asking the court to reconsider the issue.

Her barrister Mr Matovu argued that the tribunal was plainly wrong to dismiss the golliwog complaint purely on grounds of delay.

However, the LSE’s barrister, Shaen Catherwood, insisted that Mr McAleese’s use of the controverisal word - spoken quietly and quickly - did not come anywhere close to racial harassment.

‘I say it is unsatisfactory that somebody should be labelled with a finding of harassment on racial grounds when the actual context in which the word was used was innocent and inoffensive,’ he told the court.