A long-serving Metropolitan police sergeant has failed in his attempt to sue the force for discrimination because a more senior officer called him a “numpty”.
Sonny Kalar, who was with the Met for 30 years, said he was offended when Ch Insp Marlise Davies twice called him a “numpty”, an employment tribunal heard.
But the employment judge Richard Nicolle, sitting at London Central employment tribunal, said Davies used the term in a “lighthearted manner” and it did not amount to discrimination.
Kalar, who joined the Met in June 1993 and retired in June 2023, brought a series of claims including race discrimination and harassment, disability discrimination and harassment, victimisation and whistleblowing detriment.
He made wide-ranging allegations against senior officers, claiming there was a “collective witch-hunt” against him – all the claims were dismissed.
One of his allegations was that Davies, a chief inspector in the SO15 counter terrorism command, discriminated against him by calling him a “numpty”.
The tribunal heard: “CI Davies accepts using the term, once not twice, but said that it was used as an affectionate term as in ‘don’t be so silly’, rather than in a disparaging manner. Nevertheless, she apologised to [Mr Kalar].”
Judge Nicolle said: “We accept CI Davies’ evidence that the comment was made during her call with [Kalar] on 15 July 2022 in a lighthearted manner.
“We do not consider that the term ‘numpty’ has any racial or disability connotations and in the context that it was used, in what we considered to be a lighthearted manner, not one which was capable of constituting harassment when looked at objectively.”
According to research conducted by King’s College London, the origins of the word “numpty” can be traced back to the 18th century.
Evidence found it was first used in a play in 1733, as a “term of mocking endearment for a cuckolded husband”.
