Black woman who claimed Heathrow strip-search was racial discrimination has case dismissed
31 December 2024, 14:28
A black female employee at Heathrow Airport has had her case chucked out having claimed she was "strip-searched because of her race".
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Veleta Brown spoke of being "violated" when security officer Sorien Monfries asked her to step to the side in order to undertake a "private search" after she set off a security scanner.
The project manager said she had been "marched" out of the room by two security guards and was "treated as a criminal", an employment tribunal heard.
After the incident, she filed a complaint against the London airport and said the search was akin to racial discrimination and harassment.
But having sued Heathrow for more than £1 million, an employment judge has now dismissed her claims, saying the search was "not related" to her race.
The tribunal held in Reading was told Ms Brown, who describes herself as Black Caribbean, began working as a Delivery Project Manager at Heathrow Airport in June 2022.
It was heard that in October 2022, Ms Brown was scheduled to meet a contractor in the secure airside area of the airport, which required her to pass through security.
Having passed through an archway scanner - which serves as a metal detector and body scanner - Ms Brown was asked to step aside for a body scan by Ms Monfries, because she had activated the alarm.
If the body scanner finds a "zone of concern" then the person is required to step aside and consent to a search that involves being patted down over their clothing and scanned with a hand-held metal detector.
Following this, if the security officer is not convinced that there is no security concern, then a private search can take place.
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Ms Brown accepted that these checks were “important” and that the archway “cannot select on the grounds of race”, it was heard.
But she said the private searches were not typically undertaken, which was disputed by the airport who said it is "required when a security office cannot satisfy themselves" that the "area of concern has been resolved".
The project manager claimed she was “patted down” three times over clothing by Ms Monfries, which she found to be “excessive”.
Ms Brown alleged that the officer “repeatedly patted around the bra area” before turning to a colleague and stating she wanted to do a private search.
Having been moved to a side room, Ms Brown said a security guard stood in front of the door to stop her leaving, but the airport said this was done to stop someone else coming into the room.
Later she was given permission to proceed to the airside, however Ms Brown said the search left her feeling "embarrassed, humiliated, degraded and violated".
Later the project manager told her line manager about the search and went on to log an official grievance, saying she did not know any other employees who had been "strip searched".
Her grievance was partially upheld due to a flaw in how it was investigated, but Ms Brown was told that there was “no evidence to suggest that the incident raised in October 2022 was an act of direct discrimination”.
After appealing the decision, she resigned in June last year.
Employment Judge Anna Poynton concluded that Ms Brown had been asked to step aside for the search because the archway scanner had activated, and was “not related to her race”.
