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  "path": "/news/suffolk-news-chefs-workplace-racism-time-sheets-tribunal",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-18T04:33:39.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Unemployment hits five-year high as Rachel Reeves accused of 'pricing young people out",
    "the market'",
    "Council found to have misused nearly £2 MILLION in grant money",
    "Watch extraordinary moment pick-up truck FLIES into US homeowner's front door",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nThree chefs accused their workplace of racism after being fired for filing fake time sheets.\n\nThe chefs, Marian Coltofean, Monika Banasiak, and Elisabete Dos Santos Rocha, accused Royal Harwich Yacht Club in Suffolk of racism after being dismissed in October 2023.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nOne of Britain's oldest yacht clubs, it was founded in 1843 - and received endorsements from Queen Victoria and Prince Philip.\n\nThe trio's claims were dismissed after an employment tribunal agreed the group had conspired to make false claims they worked dozens more hours than they actually had.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWorkers at the yacht club self-logged their hours, the Norwich tribunal heard.\n\nThe three were the only foreign nationals in the catering team. Ms Banasiak is Polish, Ms Rocha is Portugese, and Mr Coltofean is Romanian.\n\nMr Coltofean served as the club's catering manager and signed off on Ms Banasiak and Ms Rocha's time sheets, who served as chefs.\n\nThe club catering manager was also in a relationship with Ms Banasiak and the two were living together at the time.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nIn September 2023, a manager was leaving the club and was worried Ms Banasiak and Ms Rocha had not yet arrived in time for a dinner event.\n\n\nThe manager then checked the logs the next day and found the two had written that they arrived before she had left.\n\nShe then reported the issue and an investigation exposed discrepancies between when the pair said they came into work against when they logged in and out of the alarm system.\n\nIt also examined their previous three months of time sheets and found the duo had both cheated the system.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Unemployment hits five-year high as Rachel Reeves accused of 'pricing young people out the market'\n  * Council found to have misused nearly £2 MILLION in grant money\n  * Watch extraordinary moment pick-up truck FLIES into US homeowner's front door\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMs Banasiak logged 896 minutes - or nearly 15 hours - more than she worked.\n\nMs Rocha logged 716 minutes, or nearly 12 hours more.\n\nIt also found that on 19 instances the pair logged the exact same entry times, despite the fact they lived 40 minutes apart and were not likely to arrive together.\n\nThe three then filed for unfair dismissal and racial discrimination in October 2023.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nEmployment Judge Richard Wood said the dismissals were \"unrelated to the fact that the workers were not British nationals\".\n\nHe added: \"We accept that the club appeared to have little if any written rules about filling out time sheets. We take the view that it might have been better to have spelt out some of the matters discussed within a staff handbook.\"\n\nHowever, he would say the key issues were \"matters of common sense\" and it was not appropriate the way the time sheets were filled out.“\n\nMr Wood said: \"It seems that [they] had convinced themselves that it was acceptable and permitted... It is likely that the practice described had been going on for much longer than the three-month period covered by the schedules.\n\n\"We find in this case that the club was not aware of how time sheets were being filled out and extra hours claimed. We are satisfied that the club’s investigation of these matters was full and reasonable. This ground of less favourable treatment is not made out on the evidence.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter **",
  "title": "Chefs accuse workplace of racism after being fired for faking their time sheets"
}