A BASINGSTOKE office worker who was subjected to a barrage of racial abuse is seeking £6.6 million in compensation from the company.

Kieran Sidhu, who was working for tech company Exertis, based at Chineham Park, has already won claims against his employer for the race discrimination, racial harassment and constructive dismissal he faced.

The 36-year-old Sikh account manager, who is of Scottish and Indian descent, was called an ‘Arab shoe bomber’ and ‘temperamental Syrian immigrant’ as part of sustained racial bullying by colleagues, according to a report by MailOnline.

He claimed that as well as the verbal harassment, his colleagues would regularly bin his laptop, hide his belongings or stand and applaud if he arrived late to work.

Mr Sidhu’s joined the firm in 2012, and said the harassment escalated from January 2016.

An employment tribunal held in Southampton found that “crude sexual innuendo and express sexual reference” were considered "entertaining banter" in the workplace.

Mr Sidhu is now seeking additional compensation for the psychological damage caused, saying he may never be able to work again.

He is requesting £6,638,938 for lost earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages at a remedy hearing in September.

If the full amount is awarded it would far exceed the current record tribunal payout of £4.7million.

The tribunal also found that Exertis manager Matthew Rumsey showed "little interest" in Mr Sidhu’s complaints and instead took client accounts away from him and tried to force him out of the firm.

In a statement, Exertis said Mr Sidhu’s experience was a “unique case across a business of more than 1,800 employees”, adding that “appropriate disciplinary action” had been taken.

A spokesperson told the Gazette: “The employment tribunal decision relates to Exertis and a breach of the Equality Act 2010 within a specific area of the business. We fully respect the tribunal’s decision.

"When the complaint was made four years ago, Exertis immediately launched a thorough internal investigation and took appropriate disciplinary action.

"This was a unique case across a business of more than 1,800 employees. However, Exertis takes any such concerns extremely seriously. This is why we took immediate remedial action, such as diversity and inclusion training, on completion of that investigation in 2017. 

"On this occasion it was clear that certain behaviours within a part of our business fell short of the standards we expect. However, our response makes sure that this should never happen again. Exertis prides itself on being an inclusive employer and continues to invest heavily in increasing awareness in relation to diversity.”