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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.”
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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”.
