A black chef at a JD Wetherspoon pub, who claimed he was nicknamed ‘our little slave’ has lost his tribunal case – thanks to the company’s good grievance procedure.

The Swindon Advertiser reported that Gregorio Mercedes Luciano alleged his colleagues at The Savoy in Swindon described him in racist terms.

He also said he was underpaid, forced to work while white staff rested and was given insufficient protection under health and safety rules.

After he complained to his bosses that he had been racially abused, a fellow worker, Lisa Corbin, claimed he had kissed her on a drunken night out and pursued her at work..

He claimed victimisation on that grounds that the potential claim of sexual harassment, which was never formally brought, was intended to get him to drop his race discrimination claim.

Luciano resigned in June 2006 after his doctor told him we was suffering from high blood pressure brought on by work-related stress.

But a Bristol tribunal ruled that the correct grievance procedures had been followed and it was these procedures which had highlighted the potential sexual harassment claim.

Tribunal chairman Clive Toomer said the company was seeking to test the alternative explanation for the poor relationship that the claims of racial discrimination had highlighted.

“That was not therefore less favourable treatment,” he said, “it was simply part of the investigation.”