Indian police worker claimed her colleagues were 'KKK members'
A police worker who claimed her colleagues were members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has lost her race discrimination case.Neelam Puri, 59, who is from an Indian-Asian background, sued the Scottish Police Authority at an employment tribunal after making the 'ludicrous' suggestion that members of the police force were part of the white supremacist group.Mrs Puri raised concerns after she heard co-workers having a discussion about how 'the KKK had Scottish roots', which made her feel 'unsafe'.The civilian staff member said she could not 'rule out' that co-workers were involved in the group and were 'targeting' her while working at Marischal College police station in Aberdeen. While her manager agreed the conversation was not suited to the workplace, the tribunal heard that 'no harm was intended by his topic of conversation'.In September 2023, Mrs Puri moved to a different police station based in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, where she later complained there were difficulties with the shift pattern in her new role.She told a manager that having flexible shifts was 'white privilege' - without going into how this was the case.Her racism case was dismissed by Aberdeen Employment Tribunal after it found 'there was not any evidence to support' the allegation relating to the KKK. A police worker who claimed her colleagues were members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has lost her race discrimination case (Stock image) The tribunal heard that Mrs Puri worked as a Public Enquiry Support Assistant (PESA) at Marischal College police station in Aberdeen from October 2022.She was a civilian member of staff whose role was primarily to deal with people attending the public office at the station.Mrs Puri didn't have a good relationship with fellow PESAs at the station as she thought they were deliberately not training her to do her role properly, and that she was being excluded from a social media group they had set up.The other PESAs did indeed exchange WhatsApp messages 'highly critical' of Mrs Puri in a group she was excluded from.There is an ongoing disciplinary investigation into that group, but the tribunal was told that no mention was made of her 'race, ethnic origin or nationality'.In late 2022, she asked fellow PESA Clare Fyfe if there was such a group, and was told that there was not.In August the next year, Ms Fyfe had a meeting with line managers in which she was 'visibly upset and concerned at working with [Mrs Puri]'.A couple of days later, Ms Fyfe spoke to a colleague, Arthur Martin, about 'the Ku Klux Klan having Scottish roots'.Mrs Puri heard the conversation, and told a line manager that the reference to the KKK had made her feel unsafe.The incident was investigated, and another manager told her the conversation was not suited to the workplace, and that he had 'given some suitable advice regarding this'.Mr Martin said that 'no harm was intended by his topic of conversation'.She went off sick in April 2024, and did not return to work before she resigned in July 2025.Speaking about the KKK incident, Employment Judge Kemp said: 'That is in the context where [Ms Puri] was asked in cross examination whether she suggested that Mr Martin and Ms Fyfe were members of the KKK, and she replied that several members of Police Scotland were members of KKK and were targeting her.'[Mrs Puri] maintained that position when it was suggested to be ludicrous.'She did not say which members of Police Scotland she believed were members of the KKK.The tribunal found that 'there was not any evidence to support such an allegation'.The judge continued: 'When asked to explain the threat to safety she said that she was right to assume that certain members of Police Scotland were racist.'An email she had sent had also indicated that she could not rule out that Ms Fyfe and Mr Martin were members of the KKK.'Strictly speaking in theory that is correct, but as a matter of what is reasonable to infer from circumstances was not.'She is due to receive £2,293 in compensation for an unrelated claim she made for reasonable adjustments related to her disability.All her other claims, including race discrimination and harassment, were dismissed.
