Radio presenter who was’replaced due to accent’ loses claim of race

The claim of race discrimination against a radio presenter, who claimed that she was fired because her accent was Indian, has been rejected.

Soma Sarkar was a presenter at Lyca Radio in London, a station that broadcasts music for British Asians.

She never received a written contract, but was paid PS12.50 per hour for filling out a timesheet and working as a freelancer. Earnings were not subject to tax or national insurance deductions.

Rajinder BADDHAN was appointed as the new CEO of the company in January 2021. This is almost two years since she started working at the station.

He described Sarkar’s work on the radio as “dreary”.

Baddhan said to the tribunal that Lyca had to change its image. He developed a new positioning strategy for the radio station.

He wanted to replace the presenters at Lyca Radio (Sarkar’s main radio station) with new ones who had “more energy” and “a higher profile in public”.

Sarkar received a notice in January 2021 that she would no longer be presenting the weekday show. Her last show was scheduled for 5 February 2021. As part of this shake-up, three other presenters also lost their jobs. She claimed that someone with an English Accent had replaced her.

The company treated her complaint as one of grievance. The company responded that the contract was not terminated but that she had “been removed from her position” during a review of station operations.

The company claimed that it treated all presenters the same and denied any allegations of discrimination based on race or religious beliefs.

She told the tribunal that she had always maintained that her termination was not due to performance. It is well known that the person who replaced me did radio shows on weekends or very late evenings, but not prime time.

She accused the CEO, saying that the new presenter “was related to the CEO in some way, regardless of race or ethnicity, of the person concerned… It can be construed clearly as a case of discrimination based on an attempt to look after one’s known and own.”

In determining whether Sarkar is an employee or freelancer, found that there was no evidence of control. There was no contract and no documentation was produced showing any details of the working agreements.

The tribunal did not have jurisdiction over her case because she was an independent contractor. She lost all claims for unfair dismissal, non-payment of holiday pay and notice pay, as well as direct and indirect racism.

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