An employment tribunal has dismissed a Muslim school worker’s attempt to sue for religious discrimination after she claimed her boss dubbed her a “guinea pig.”
The tribunal in Reading, Berkshire, heard that Jasia Haroon claimed assistant head teacher Emma Bell used the word as an insult to her beliefs.
She claimed that being termed a ‘pig of any kind’ offended her and that she had been discriminated against as a result of it.
Mrs Bell was only utilizing a new checklist to start Ms Haroon out in the primary school role, and the term ‘guinea pig’ was an innocent allusion to the fact that she was the first member of staff to be introduced using it, according to the panel.
Ms Haroon began working as a learning support assistant at Manorcroft Primary School in Egham, Surrey, on a temporary contract to provide maternity cover beginning in March 2020, according to the tribunal.
Mrs Bell was her line manager and was in charge of her indoctrination, which included the first use of a “induction checklist.”
Mrs Bell referred to Ms Haroon as a “guinea pig” during the process, she told the tribunal.
Mrs Bell, on the other hand, indicated that, while she doesn’t recall saying it, she could have said it in regard to the first time she utilized the induction checklist.
Ms Haroon, on the other hand, said she objected to this use of the phrase because she believes it was “religiously motivated and intended as an insult.”
Ms Haroon was asked if she knew what the term “guinea pig” meant throughout the hearing.
‘[Mrs Bell] was calling me guinea pig,’ she answered. The term “pig” offends me. Calling me a pig in any form offends my religious beliefs. To me, the word pig is repulsive.
‘I was their test subject, which is why the term “guinea pig” is used. I went through the induction process and was told it was a new procedure and that I was being used as a test subject.’