A self-proclaimed “psychic” IT worker, who was sacked after informing a new female colleague they had already met in his dreams, has lost his court battle for compensation.
Elrich Daudet, who says that he possesses the “gift” of prophetic dreams that foretell the future, claimed that the woman had appeared to him months before their actual encounter, acting as a muse for his poetry and songwriting.
The colleague subsequently told another staff member that she was “uncomfortable” and complained that Mr Daudet’s proclamations were doing her head in.
He was ultimately dismissed for gross misconduct after sending her “love poems”, which included likening her scent to “flowers in the Garden of Eden”.
Mr Daudet sought compensation, alleging that his employers, Computacenter (UK) Ltd, a FTSE100 IT services company, had discriminated against him because of his “protected belief” in the prophetic nature of dreams.
However, the UK’s top employment judge, Lord Fairley, has now dismissed his claim.
Lord Fairley said: “She thought he was coming on to her and that made her feel uncomfortable…It doesn’t matter whether he touches her or if it’s in an email.”
The judge rejected Mr Daudet’s appeal against an earlier employment tribunal ruling, finding no legal error in the conclusion that Mr Daudet’s belief in the power of his dreams did not constitute a “protected belief” under equality laws.
He said that the messages sent were not a necessary “manifestation” of Mr Daudet’s beliefs and could legitimately be considered “harassment” of the woman.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal heard that Mr Daudet worked as a senior computer analyst at the company, which provides IT equipment and services to businesses and public authorities, from 2008 until his dismissal in 2022.
The judge said that Mr Daudet believes in the power of dreams to foretell the future and says that he has had prophetic dreams since he was a child.
Some of his dreams are warnings, which he feels obliged to pass on to anyone in danger, while others are “social”, which he does not necessarily tell anyone about.
He was introduced to the woman, a relatively new starter who he had never met before, by his boss in August 2022.
After a face-to-face meeting which lasted just minutes, he said that he soon realised that the colleague was in fact the same woman who had been appearing in his dreams after first coming to him months earlier.
He then wrote her a message, saying that he had known for a year that they would cross paths and that she was “haunting” his dreams.
In another message, he included some of his poetry, including lines likening the subject of the poem’s scent to flowers in the Garden of Eden.
But the messages resulted in him facing an internal disciplinary inquiry for harassment, which ended up with him being sacked for “gross misconduct” in December 2022.
He sued, claiming damages for unfair dismissal, harassment and discrimination on the basis of his race as a Black man and of his “protected belief” in the God-given power of his dreams.
After a five-day hearing in 2024, his case was rejected by an employment tribunal judge, who concluded that there was nothing unfair about his dismissal.
His belief was not a “protected” one because it was too specific to his own life, in that it was a belief about his own powers of premonition, the tribunal found.
Last week, he took his case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, where his lawyers argued that the lower tribunal erred in dismissing his compensation bid.
His solicitor, Chinonso Ijezie, argued that the tribunal had got it wrong in its reasoning because his belief is not merely a narrowly held one about his own powers.
Instead, it is a belief that dreams are generally capable of predicting the future and should be considered “protected” under equality laws, he said.
The lower tribunal had also made findings of fact that were not open to them on the evidence, including that the colleague was “alarmed” by the communications, he argued.
But giving judgment and dismissing his claims, Lord Fairley said: “The tribunal’s conclusion that the purported belief wasn’t protected discloses no error of law.
“On no view were any of the messages sent by the appellant manifestations of any belief held by him.”
There was also “ample evidence” of “distress or alarm” caused to the woman by his communications.
The messages had effectively involved “love poems”, which were “amorous in nature,” he said, adding: “That’s plainly something that’s objectively sexual.”
“She thought he was coming on to her and that made her feel uncomfortable,” he continued.
“It doesn’t matter whether he touches her or if it’s in an email.”
He refused Mr Daudet’s appeal application, upholding the dismissal of his claims.
