'I was sacked by my new bosses for being Muslim'

A cafe worker who was sacked from her long-term job over WhatsApp partly because she was a Muslim of Pakistani heritage has told how she fought her case "for her children".

Ayshea Malik, 35, took the owners of Food 4 Thought Café in Warrington, Cheshire, to an employment tribunal after losing her job in April 2023.

Ms Malik had worked at the Great Sankey cafe since 2013, before it was taken over by new owners Przemyslaw Paliga and Zbigniew Szary in February of 2023.

The tribunal found that Ms Malik had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on the grounds of her race and religion.

Ms Malik, who presented her case to the tribunal in person without the help of a solicitor, said being told she had won was "emotional".

"I just felt like I needed to do it for my children because I don't want them to be in this situation and think 'oh no, I can't do nothing about this'," she told the BBC.

"You can do it, and I've showed them you can do it and you can win."

The tribunal, held in Liverpool's Civil Justice Centre, heard Ms Malik had asked when she would receive a modest sum of money her new bosses had wrongly deducted from her wages due a misunderstanding about tax - an issue that affected several members of staff at the café.

She said: "A couple of days later, they took me off the rota and I was like 'what's going on?'

"I've never not worked there, the whole nine years, I've been in every single week.

"So it was really strange, and I just started panicking and worrying, like it just came over me straight away."

When Ms Malik questioned why she was not on the rota, she received a message on the work WhatsApp chat from Mr Paliga referring to her "resignation", the tribunal heard.

When she said she had not resigned, she was told she would be given reasons for her termination in writing - which never arrived.

She said: "It was horrible, it was so scary because I just didn't know what I was going to do.

"My heart just sank, it was really horrible.

"I didn't know what to think - I didn't know what to do."

Ms Malik later told her story to a staff member at her local Citizen's Advice Bureau, who told her "this is so bad" and helped her launch legal proceedings.

In a written ruling, employment judge Jane Aspinall stated: "She is a single mother of two and was trying to provide for a family.

"She was immediately afraid as to how she would pay her bills, how she would cope without a job.

"She experienced feelings of anxiety and felt overwhelmed by fear about how she could manage."

Things became even more upsetting for Ms Malik when it dawned on her that another staff member who had complained, a white British woman, had not been sacked.

"I just had a feeling, because I was the only person of colour there", she said.

"I don't really know the words to express it, but it feels really like it affects me now still."

In court Mr Paliga and Mr Szary argued that they suspected Ms Malik was stealing - but Judge Aspinall ruled that had been a "fabrication" as the allegation had never been made to anyone else - including Ms Malik - until the tribunal hearing.

She also noted that the two respondents had not advanced any argument against the claim that they had treated Ms Malik unfavourably due to her race or religion.

A further hearing will take place to determine what compensation is due to Ms Malik.

Food 4 Thought did not respond to a request for comment.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to [email protected]