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Radio host ‘replaced because of accent’ loses race claim

Online Niel November 8, 2024

A radio presenter who claimed she was replaced because of her Indian accent has lost her race discrimination claim.

Soma Sarkar worked as a presenter on a daily show on Lyca Radio, which broadcasts music in London for British Asians.

He was never given any form of written contract and was paid £12.50 an hour, completing a timesheet as a self-employed person and receiving tax-free earnings and National Insurance deductions.

In January 2021, almost two years after he started working for the post, the company named a new chief executive, Rajinder Baddhan.

He said he listened to Sarkar’s production on the station and decided it was “terrifying”.

Baddhan told the tribunal that Lyca needed to change its image and developed a strategy to reposition the station, including renaming one of its sister stations Lyca Gold to play more retro music.

This meant he wanted new presenters at Lyca Radio, Sarkar’s main station, with “more energy and a higher public profile” than those who were there when he joined.

In January 2021, Sarkar was told that she would stop presenting her weekday show and that her last show would be 5 February 2021. Three other presenters lost their jobs as part of the change. She claimed she was replaced by someone with an English accent.

She met with Lyca’s HR team shortly after, and this was treated by the company as a complaint. She replied that her contract had not been terminated, but that she had been “taken out of the slot” while there was a review of operations at the station.

The company said it treated the other presenters exactly the same and rejected what it considered to be allegations of racial and/or religious discrimination.

She appealed, telling the tribunal: “I have always maintained that the termination was on grounds that were not strictly performance based as it is understood that the presenter who replaced me used to do radio shows, either very late nights or at weekends late ones. but certainly not on a peak evening like mine.”

She accused the CEO of nepotism, claiming that the new anchor was “related to the CEO in some way, regardless of the race or ethnicity of the person concerned… Indeed, it can be construed as a clear case of discrimination on the grounds of an attempt to take care of one’s own and known.”

To determine whether Sarkar was an employee or a freelancer, the court found no evidence of control – there was no written contract and no documents were produced showing the details of the working arrangements.

This meant the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear her claims as she was self-employed – so she lost her claims for unfair dismissal, failure to pay notice and holiday pay and direct and indirect racial discrimination.