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a personal assistant accused Marks & Spencer She has lost her discrimination and unfair dismissal claims against the retailer after implementing a “racist” internal restructuring program codenamed “Project Coffee”.
Claudia Royer, former PA Marks & Spencer Food & Technology For nine years he claimed Project Coffee was a scheme to recruit more personal assistants from different racial backgrounds, claiming its codename exploited “racist tropes”.
She further claimed that she was asked to specifically greet the newly appointed person because she was black. Ms Royer made allegations of direct racial discrimination, unfair dismissal and unpaid wages against M&S following the redundancies in October 2023.
However, an employment judge dismissed her claims after M&S submitted documents proving the coffee project had “nothing to do with recruiting personal assistants” and was in fact just a proposed restructuring plan.
Employment judge Anthony Snelson said in his ruling in September last year: “It is unfortunate that the claimant was steadfast in her belief in her astonishing theory that there was a secret scheme called ‘Project Coffee’ designed to make the PA community more racially representative in the world outside the defendant’s organisation.”
He added: “If she is right, it is difficult to see how its existence would cause any harm to claimants, other than its name which might offend. But in any event we are very satisfied that there are no such plans.”
The court heard Ms Royer’s employment was terminated following a review and reorganization of the PA role within M&S Food Group in August 2023.
She subsequently wrote to the M&S chief executive detailing numerous complaints of unfair and discriminatory treatment, many of which were later repeated in her court claim.
Her complaint was initially dealt with internally as a formal grievance, but was dismissed in November 2023, with M&S saying it had found no evidence of discrimination and that she was “woefully wrong” about the nature and purpose of Project Coffee.
M&S told the tribunal that Project Coffee was launched in early 2019 as a restructuring plan unrelated to PA recruitment.
Judge Snelson noted that around the same time, several newly appointed personal assistants, at least one of whom was black, were hired and Ms. Royer was asked to greet them on their arrival.
The judge dismissed all of Ms Royer’s claims, concluding that she “found herself taking a position that appeared to be out of touch with reality and common sense”.
He further criticized her judgment, stating: “It is contrary to her judgment that even after being presented with a document clearly establishing the fact that the Coffee Project involved a restructuring proposal, the plaintiff should continue to pursue the matter and resort to the wild allegation that the document was a fabrication.”
Judge Snelson also found there was no harm in asking her to welcome new colleagues as it was a task that “naturally falls within her remit”.