A bedding company worker who was accused of calling two colleagues a “f***ing P***” and a “gypsy c***” was unfairly fired from her job, a judge has ruled.

Anita Jarzyna was a value team leader at Hypnos in Princes Risborough from March 2015 until she was dismissed in November 2019 after being accused of racially abusing two of her fellow workers.

One member of staff said Mrs Jarzyna “didn’t like anybody” and was “mean to most people”.

An employment tribunal in Watford heard that Mrs Jarzyna clearly did not get on with two of her colleagues at the time, Daniel Bowler, who was a purchasing manager, and his girlfriend Erika Mateova, a sewer.

Mr Bowler raised a grievance against Mrs Jarzyna in November 2019, saying he had been told she had referred to him as “ the f***ing P***” in a conversation with another colleague at a wine bar.

When she had been told she couldn’t say that, she apparently responded by saying: “I can say what I like, I am Polish.”

Mrs Jarzyna said she had gone to the wine bar and had talked about Mr Bowler, but she denied calling him a racial slur.

Ms Mateova also raised a grievance against Mrs Jarzyna, saying: “It was brought to my attention… that Anita refers to me as the gypsy c*** and has said this on a few occasions.”

Again, Mrs Jarzyna denies ever using those words to describe her colleague.

Despite her denials, her line manager informed her that “serious allegations of racism” had been made and she was suspended on full pay while an investigation was carried out.

In a statement, Mrs Jarzyna said she had in fact heard Mr Bowler use the slur “P***” to describe someone else and that he was lying about her to get her fired.

Seven colleagues also gave a statement, with one saying: “I speak to Anita a lot and when we talk about work she often talks about herself.

“She has been annoyed with Danny Bowler for a while, she doesn’t get on with him at all and doesn’t like him.

“It started a couple of months ago when Anita and I were talking while I was working and I said my next job was for Erika, she said ‘oh, you’re going to see that gypsy c***!’

“She’s called her that to me probably four more times on different occasions since then.

“I’d heard she’d been suspended so I called her to make sure she was ok. She told me what had happened and that she’d lost her temper outside and people had heard her shouting ‘gypsy c***’ and ‘P***’.

“She admitted to me what had happened in the wine bar and what she’d said about Erika.

“I asked her why she’d said what she did and she said she’s Polish and can say what she likes, it’s ok to say it in Poland so why is it not ok here? She clearly doesn’t think saying it is wrong.”

Another colleague said: “We were all sat around the table talking and someone mentioned the word Christmas party and who was going.

“Someone mentioned that Danny and Erika were going and Anita shouted loudly ‘I’m not going if that gypsy c*** is going’.

“We all told her she couldn’t say things like that and she didn’t say it again that evening.”

Mrs Jarzyna also made a formal complaint about Mr Bowler, accusing him of being uncooperative and disruptive and calling her a ‘Polish cow’.

She faced a disciplinary meeting, accompanied by her GMB Union representative, after which she was fired for gross misconduct.

But Mrs Jarzyna decided to take Hypnos Ltd to employment tribunal, saying she was unfairly dismissed and wasn’t offered an appeal hearing, despite a previous colleague retaining their job on appeal after apparently being caught stealing from a work vending machine.

She said if she had been offered an appeal hearing, she may have kept her job.

Employment judge Alliott said making racist and derogatory comments about co-workers was a “potentially fair reason for dismissal”, but said: “I cannot find that the respondent [Hypnos] genuinely believed in the reason for dismissal in the absence of any evidence from the respondent. Accordingly, I have to find that the dismissal was unfair.”

The judge added: “Further, I find that the failure to afford the claimant a hearing for her appeal renders the dismissal procedurally unfair.”

Claims made by Mrs Jarzyna that she had been sacked on the grounds of sex or race discrimination were, however, dismissed by the judge.

The judge said: “The claimant asserts that the grievances were inventions, were trying to get her fired and were motivated by her race and/or sex. I reject the claimant’s assertions on this. The claimant did use offensive and racist language both in and out of the workplace.”

The Mail Online reports that the judge ordered the firm to pay a “basic award” of £630 plus compensation of £2,214 to Mrs Jarzyna.