City broker loses discrimination case over Diwali celebration sickness
£60k-a-year City broker who missed 55 days’ work and went sick after celebrating Diwali and texting his boss, ‘I overdrank, vomited, passed out and woke up an hour ago,’ loses race discrimination case
- Priyank Thakkar missed work after he went on a bender to celebrate Diwali
- While he was employed at Gallardo Securities he missed 55 days work in a year
- The broker admitted lying about having to get an operation and took 11 days off
- Resigned and claimed for race discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal
- A tribunal rejected his claims after finding his credibility ‘severely damaged’
A ‘party time’ City broker who missed work after going on a weekend bender to celebrate Diwali has lost a case for race discrimination.
Priyank Thakkar, who earned £60,000-a-year working in finance, took a Friday off to mark the Indian religious festival, an employment tribunal heard.
But he texted his boss at 2.30pm on the following Monday to say he was not coming in because he was too sick after a family party.
‘I overdrank, vomited and passed out and only woke up an hour ago, sorry,’ he explained.
The broker at City firm Gallardo Securities also missed work after failing to catch several flights back from trips abroad and when he did turn up, would occasionally wear trainers and a baseball cap to the office, the tribunal heard.
He even lied about needing an operation, allowing him to be absent for another 11 days, the tribunal was told.
Priyank Thakkar claimed he suffered discrimination while working at City firm Gallardo Securities (pictured)
Furious managers warned him ‘It’s not party time’ and the way he had been acting was ‘terrible’ and ‘catastrophic’, the panel heard.
After missing 55 days’ work in just a year, Mr Thakkar was suspended following a missed flight back from Amsterdam and then resigned a day later.
He has now unsuccessfully sued the firm for race discrimination and unfair dismissal after the tribunal found he had lied to his bosses and ‘appeared to think it was entirely acceptable to have done so’.
Mr Thakkar, who is Indian, started working at Gallardo, an inter-dealer broker based in London, in 2017.
The hearing, held in central London, was told he irregularly attended work and in 2018, his bosses began to have concerns about his unreliability and frequent unauthorised absences.
Millions of Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, one of the most important holidays in Hinduism.
Often known as the festival of lights, the multiday holiday celebrates the triumph of an important Hindu god over an evil entity and is marked with a number of unique celebrations.
The five-day holiday is always held in autumn annually during Ashwin, the seventh month of the Hindu calendar and typically falls between the middle of October until the middle of November.
Also called Divali and Deepavali, it is a Hindu holiday held annually that represents the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and Knowledge over ignorance.
Often called the festival of lights, Diwali commemorates the return of Rama, the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu, to his people after being exiled for 14 days.
While exiled, Hindus believe he fought and defeated Ravana, a multi-headed demon-king, marking the joyous occasion with the Diwali festival.
The holiday is also celebrated by Sikhs, Jains and Newar Buddhists.
The holiday takes its name from the brilliant lights that adorn many places during Diwali. To celebrate Rama’s victory over Ravana, lights are lit to adorn businesses, homes, temples, offices and on the street.
How is Diwali celebrated?
Day one of the festival, known as Dhanteras, sees Hindus clean their home thoroughly, buy new lights and plants and offer prayers.
On the second day of Diwali, called Naraka Chaturdashi, Hindus rise early before sunrise and cover themselves in holy oil, continue prayer and buy treats.
Diwali itself is held on the third day of the festival and sees gifts exchanged, feasts held with family members and friends, fireworks set off in celebration and a prayer ritual known as the puja performed.
Govardhan Puja, the fourth day of the festival, is when Hindus offer vegetarian food to the god Krishna at shrines in their homes or temples and light oil lamps.
Bhai Dooj, also known as Bhai Tika, Bhai Phonta, Bhai Bij and Bhatru Dviteeya, marks the fifth and final day of Diwali. The day revolves around family, particularly the relationship between siblings. Sisters often invite their brothers to their homes for meals while prayers are also offered for those who cannot visit.
When he was asked about this change of behaviour in 2019, Mr Thakkar explained he was suffering from PTSD due an earthquake in his childhood triggered by the raised voices on the open trading floor, the panel heard.
After a holiday to the USA that year, the tribunal heard he did not come into work as he said his flight was delayed but said he would be in the next day at midday.
But the hearing was told he did not text his boss until 4.50pm to say that he would not be coming in because he had gone home and fallen asleep.
Following Mr Thakkar telling them late that he was not going to be in, his line manager Marc Levy texted him saying: ‘It’s not party time and you can’t come in every other day or late in the day.
‘The way you have been recently is terrible. I would strongly suggest that you change your approach.’
The tribunal heard Mr Thakker was ‘persistently’ late for work, left his desk ‘repeatedly’ for long periods of time during busy hours and had an ‘excessive’ number of absences.
He was then told to sit next to the CEO Giammarco Campolieti in August 2019 to improve his deteriorating performance.
The following month, he resigned without notice but he was convinced to stay, but his reliability and performance did not improve, the panel heard.
In September, he told Mr Levy he was off sick with sinus infection for which he said he would need an operation.
He then went off sick twice again and Mr Levy asked for a medical certificates, but none were provided.
Then in October, he missed a day of work due to the family Diwali party incident and in December because he went away for his birthday and ‘did not make it back in time for work’, the panel heard.
In January 2020, he took 11 days sickness absence for his ‘operation’.
However, he admitted to the tribunal he had invented the procedure as ‘an excuse to get away from all the bullying and harassment at work’.
The following month, after missing his flight back in from a client meeting in Amsterdam, Mr Levy texted Mr Thakkar saying: ‘At the moment it is catastrophic what you are doing.
‘No trade, late, talking back, missing your flight, not turning up. I hope you realise.’
Mr Thakkar was then brought in for a meeting where the tribunal heard he shouted at Mr Campolieti claiming he had been treated differently because of his race before he was sent home, the panel heard.
He was then suspended but resigned the following day before making claims for race discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal.
But the panel dismissed his claims after it found his credibility was ‘severely damaged’ for numerous reasons, including the fact that he had lied to his bosses.
The panel – headed by employment judge Frances Spencer – ruled: ‘He admitted in evidence that he had lied to his employers when he told them that he was off work because he was having an operation and appeared to think it entirely acceptable to have done so.
‘[His] explanation for his failure to provide sick certificates was also unconvincing.
‘He said that his absences, lateness and changes in attitude and performance were due to his deteriorating ‘mental health’ caused by the [company], but no medical evidence of any deteriorating mental health was provided.’
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