A black accounts worker sued for race discrimination after colleagues didn’t give her a card on her birthday.
Benabel Marston told an employment tribunal that ‘everyone else got a card and snacks’ on their anniversary, but she got ‘nothing’.
Ms Marston, who identifies as black African and worked in the finance department at the Hilton at Gatwick airport, sued her employer after being sacked a few months later.
She alleged that her birthday wasn’t celebrated because of her race.
But Ms Marston’s claim was rejected because her birthday fell shortly after a team decision had been made to no longer celebrate the occasion for staff members.
The tribunal, held in Croydon, heard that Ms Marston started working for Excel Hospitality as an accounts assistant in November 2022.
It was told: ’31 December 2022 was (Ms Marston)’s birthday.
‘It was not marked with the presentation of a card or any other celebration.
South London Employment Tribunal in Croydon heard ‘some members of the team had said they didn’t want’ their birthdays to be celebrated
‘(Ms Marston) alleges this was because of her race.’
She was sacked in May 2023 because her work performance was not up to standard, and in an appeal meeting the next month she raised the birthday issue.
Ms Marston said ‘For my birthday I got nothing, everyone else got a card and snacks’.
She added that she was ‘the only Black woman in the office’ and was ‘treated differently’.
Ms Marston had also alleged that in the early days of her employment, she was told by the accounts supervisor who was in charge of her training: ‘I didn’t think people like yourself also work in accounts’ and ‘To be honest I’ve only seen Asians in accounts, they’re known to be good with numbers, innit (sic)’.
The supervisor denied making such comments and the tribunal found that on the balance of probabilities, they were not made.
‘We considered (the supervisor) a more reliable witness than the Claimant’, the judgment stated.
Three witnesses who gave evidence on behalf of Excel Hospitality, including the accounts supervisor, told the tribunal that a team decision had been made in November 2022 not to celebrate birthdays anymore.
Ms Marston started work at the Hilton London Gatwick hotel (above) at the start of November 2022, and her birthday came around late the following month
Ms Marston admitted in the appeal meeting that she had been told ‘they had stopped doing it’.
This was because ‘some members of the team had said they didn’t want’ their birthdays to be celebrated.
The tribunal heard: ‘When asked directly by the Judge whether any other birthdays had been celebrated after (Ms Marston)’s before the end of her employment in May 2023, (Ms Marston) confirmed there had not been’.
The tribunal did hear, in evidence from an assistant financial controller, that the practice had resumed ‘since January 2025’.
The judgment stated: ‘On the balance of the evidence, we find that a team decision was made (by majority) no longer to celebrate birthdays’.
It said this decision was ‘not influenced’ by the fact Ms Marston’s birthday was approaching, nor by her race.
‘It was a decision that affected everyone and with which the majority of the team agreed’, the judgment added.
‘Notably (Ms Marston) made no complaint about her birthday not being celebrated prior to the end of her employment.’
The tribunal found that she was an ‘unreliable witness’, that she tried to ‘paint a picture of a broad conspiracy against her’ and her narrative was ‘prone from shifting moment to moment’.
Employment Judge Paul Abbott said: ‘There is nothing in the facts to support the assertion that not celebrating (Ms Marston)’s birthday was in anyway influenced’ by (Ms Marston)’s race.’
‘Indeed, the decision was not related to the Claimant in any specific way at all.’
Ms Marston’s other claims for race discrimination and victimisation were also dismissed.
