Rail worker accused of Nazi jibe wins £70k pay-out

A railway signaller accused of calling a cleaner a "Nazi food thrower" for clearing out an office fridge has won a £70,000 pay-out.

Michael Knox, 61, was said to have "kicked off" after finding his food on a kitchen counter.

A tribunal has now ruled that Mr Knox did not say the phrase, with the signaller successfully suing his employer for unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

Network Rail had sacked him for gross misconduct after concluding that he used the insult to an agency cleaner, though members of the RMT trade union voted for strike action after his dismissal.

The employment tribunal in Reading heard that in January 2021 cleaner Bogamil Jacek Plaszcyca was working in the staff kitchen at the Thames Valley Signalling Centre in Didcot, which is responsible for signalling trains from Paddington to the Welsh border.

It was the cleaning agency's policy that the fridges should be checked on a Friday, and any food left not named and dated should be thrown out.

But the policy had caused "friction" and anger about it had been "rumbling on for some time", the tribunal was told.

The signaller was later invited to a disciplinary hearing to face an allegation of calling the cleaner a "[expletive] Polish Nazi food thrower" following an investigation.

Mr Knox admitted going into the kitchen, seeing the food on the counter, and telling a colleague that it was a "[expletive] disgrace".

He denied saying anything offensive to the cleaner, though a manager said Mr Knox had "failed in his capacity as an influential person within that workplace to stop this behaviour from happening".

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch requested a director's review of the decision, but it was rejected, the tribunal was told.

The panel concluded that while Mr Knox had been "loud" and at the centre of a "ruckus and commotion", it could not be sure what was actually said.

It concluded that "any inappropriate words said were said for the benefit of those in the operations room, rather than directly to the cleaner".

Mr Knox was awarded £8,700 damages for breach of contract, a basic award of £15,500, and £52,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.

Following the decision an RMT spokesperson demanded Mr Knox's full reinstatement at Network Rail immediately or it would consider an industrial response.

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