Business

Mayfair casino guilty of race discrimination, tribunal finds

An exclusive London casino racially discriminated against one of its dealers by allowing a request by a patron not to have black dealers at their table, an employment tribunal has found.

Semhar Tesfagiorgis, 41, successfully sued Crown London Aspinalls, in Mayfair, over an incident in December 2019, when she and a black colleague were prevented from working at the table of a patron who had requested “females with fair skin”.

The casino had tried to argue that the reason for not allowing Tesfagiorgis and her colleague to deal to the patron was not because of race but because of the perception that it was necessary to accommodate patrons’ request, no matter how unreasonable, in order to the further the interests of the business. This was rejected by the three-person panel sitting at London central employment tribunal, led by Judge Elliot.

In a written judgment, it said: “Our finding is that the claimant and her black female colleagues were held back from going on duty because they were not ‘fair-skinned, female dealers’ or ‘western looking female staff’ …

“The accommodation of the request was direct race discrimination of the claimant because but for her race she would have been asked to deal to the patron. The granting of that request was less favourable treatment by the managers because of race.”

The tribunal also found that a complaint relating to an incident in June 2015 would have succeeded as an act of direct race discrimination but was time-barred because the claim had been brought too late.

In that incident, Aspinalls refused to accommodate a request by Tesfagiorgis for a shift swap because a patron did not want a black female dealer.

The panel said: “The shift swap was refused because of the claimant’s race, she did not fit the patron’s requirement for ‘white female dealers only’ which the respondent accommodated. The reason the claimant was not one of the patron’s preferred dealers is because she was not white. The refusal of the shift swap was less favourable treatment of the claimant because of her race.”

The panel noted that the casino had only one slide on a presentation given during training that dealt with patrons’ behaviour, describing the training as “inadequate”.

Comparing her victory to David versus Goliath, Tesfagiorgis, who worked as an inspector/dealer at Aspinalls between 2017 and 2020, said: “I tried for many years to open a dialogue about the racism myself and many others were often faced with but I was either shut down, ignored or gaslighted each time.

“The direct discrimination myself and other black colleagues received was not an isolated incident. Although the tribunal could not rule on past events due to time limits, they have acknowledged this was the case and for once Crown Aspinalls will finally be forced to do the same, for this I am grateful to the employment tribunal.”

Her solicitor, Shazia Khan, a founding partner of Cole Khan, said she hoped the judgment led to “root and branch reform of the casino and gaming industry to address the racist and sexist conduct that drove my client out of a career she clearly loved”.

Business

Customs exceeds 2024 target, rakes in N71.6bn

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command, says it surpassed its revenue target for 2024, raking in a total of N71.6 billion.

The Customs Area Controller, CAC, Effiong Harrison, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying that its target for 2024 was N56.861 billion.

Harrison expressed delight over the record-breaking revenue achieved by the command.

The Customs Area Controller described the 2024 revenue as unprecedented, noting that it was the highest-ever generated in the history of the command.

“A detailed breakdown of the revenue underscores the remarkable achievement of the command in revenue generation.

“During a meeting with his management team, the area controller revealed that the command had exceeded its annual revenue target of N56,861,094,269.07 by generating N71,633,687,108.84.

“This represents a 20 per cent increase, amounting to N14,772,592,839.27,” he said.

According to him, July 2024, in particular, was a standout month, with the command recording its highest-ever monthly revenue of N12 billion.

Harrison, while comparing the command’s performance in 2023 and 2024, noted a significant revenue increase of N41.1 billion in 2024 when compared to the N30.5 billion generated in 2023, reflecting a 135 per cent growth.

He expressed profound gratitude to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, and his management team for their unwavering support to the command.

Harrison extended appreciation to critical stakeholders and other government agencies, acknowledging them as invaluable partners in the command’s success in 2024.

He expressed optimism that the command would achieve even greater milestones in fulfilling its core mandates in 2025.

Business

FCT-IRS announces deadline for tax returns

The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) has urged private companies, government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other employers of labour in the territory to file their employee annual tax returns for 2024.

The acting Executive Chairman, Mr Michael Ango, who made the call in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said that the employers have up to Jan. 31 to comply.

In the statement, signed by the service’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Mustapha Sumaila, the FCT-IRS boss said that the returns should be filed using the prescribed forms provided by the service.

This, he said, was in compliance with Section 81 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) 2011 (as amended) and the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Regulations.

He explained that the PITA Act mandates all employers of labour in the FCT to file annual returns of all emoluments paid to their employees and the total taxes of the preceding year, not later than Jan. 31 of every year.

Ango had during the 2025 stakeholder’s engagement, emphasised that filing of employee annual returns by all employees was mandatory as provided by law.

He added that failure to file the returns would attract penalties and other sanctions, which the FCT-IRS would not hesitate to impose on any defaulters.

According to him, the best form of compliance is voluntary, which the FCT-IRS expects from all taxpayers in the FCT.

“I, therefore, enjoined all private organisations, MDAs, government owned enterprises, including sole proprietorships who are employers of labour in the FCT to comply with their tax obligations to avoid sanctions.

“More importantly, the support will contribute to the development of the FCT and the efforts of the Minister of FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, to transform the territory into a modern city,” he said.