A UK employment tribunal has ruled that comparing racist abuse to insults about a person's weight or age is itself a form of race harassment. The decision stems from a case involving Louise Williams-St Louis, a Black youth worker who was called a "slave" by a young person during a session. When she raised a complaint about the behavior, white colleagues attempted to downplay the abuse by noting that the young person had also used terms like "fat" or "old" to describe staff. Williams-St Louis worked for West Berkshire District Council as a Youth Turn-Around Intervention Worker, supporting a boy anonymized as Young Person X, who had a history of using offensive language, including the N-word. During one session, the boy smashed his phone due to frustration. By June 2024, he continued to be uncooperative, vaping, and failing to respond to Williams-St Louis during sessions, even after she informed him that she had lost a family member to stabbing. They went for a walk and discussed "racism and colonialism," but the boy's behavior continued. During a phone call, X and his friend referred to Williams-St Louis as "that battyboy Louise," "the one you call a slave," and "a plus sized baddie." Williams-St Louis became frustrated and said she "did not have time to argue with little boys" before going to get her things to drive X home. She later met with manager Stacey Clay, during which she was "rocking backwards and forwards in her distress." Clay criticized her use of the phrase "little boys" as derogatory toward the young people. Karen Norris, an assistant team manager, compared the racial abuse to comments made by the child about other staff members being old, fat, or having speech impediments. Williams-St Louis argued that while body shaming, ageism, and speech impediments affect all people, the historical violence linked to colonialism, imperialism, and slavery specifically impacted Black people. The child was reassigned to a different worker but continued to harass Williams-St Louis. X was taken to youth court for his behavior later in June 2024, but made complaints against the council staff, including Williams-St Louis. She resigned on 21 June, later stating that her managers could not empathize with her situation as a Black woman. She lodged a grievance that the council did not take her complaints seriously, but nothing came of it. Williams-St Louis won claims of race harassment and victimisation at the Reading Employment Tribunal. Employment Judge Lorna Findlay ruled that comparing racist comments to insults about being fat or old is racist. She noted that management did not take Williams-St Louis's complaints seriously. Findlay also stated that Karen Norris's comments were an attempt to diminish the seriousness of the racial abuse by likening it to other insults, which are not of equal gravity. The judge emphasized that the purpose of the comparisons was to downplay the impact of the racial abuse, which related directly to the subjugation of Black people by white people in the Caribbean in the past. Other allegations of direct race discrimination, harassment related to race, and victimisation were dismissed.