Woman wins £30K after being called Darth Vader at work
Pro tip: Don’t call your coworker Darth Vader… it’s expensive.
This might be one of the most bizarre workplace dramas ever to involve a galaxy far, far away.
A woman has walked away with almost £30,000 after her colleagues compared her to Darth Vader during a team-building exercise.
Yes - that Darth Vader.
According to a report by The Guardian, an employment tribunal ruled that being compared to the iconic Star Wars villain was not only insulting, but also legally classified as a workplace “detriment”.
This means it caused actual harm to the employee’s wellbeing.
Lorna Rooke, a training and practice supervisor for the NHS Blood and Transplant service, had been working there since 2003.
In August 2021, the team decided to spice things up with a Star Wars-themed Myers-Briggs personality quiz.
Rooke, however, missed the quiz because she was on a personal call.
Unfortunately for her, a “well-meaning” colleague named Amanda Harber decided to fill it out on her behalf.
The result named Rooke the apparent Darth Vader of the team.
Now, before you laugh (again), the personality test actually described Vader as a “very focused individual” capable of uniting teams.
If we’re being real though, when most people hear Darth Vader, they think of force-chokes and a questionable management style.
Rooke wasn’t amused. The tribunal heard how the incident made her feel unpopular and alienated.
This eventually contributed to her resignation a month later.
While the court didn’t agree that the Vader comparison alone pushed her to leave, it did rule that it caused her a workplace detriment.
In the end, Rooke won her case for detriment after a protected disclosure and was awarded £28,989.61 (about R705,600) in compensation.
Unfortunately, she lost the claims for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.
So, the next time your office suggests a character-based team-building exercise, maybe skip the Sith Lords.
Or at least get everyone’s consent before you start handing out villain titles.
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