Woman received compensation for comparison with Darth Vader (2 photos)

Judge rules Star Wars villain comparison 'offensive' and 'outrageous'





A UK woman has been awarded nearly £30,000 in damages after a colleague compared her to Darth Vader from Star Wars, The Guardian reports.

An employment tribunal has ruled that comparisons to a villain like Darth Vader are “offensive” and “outrageous” and could amount to “harm” in the workplace.

A British woman named Lorna Rook joined the NHS Blood Donor Service in 2003. In 2021, her colleagues decided to take the Myers-Briggs personality test, inspired by Star Wars, as a team-building exercise. The test classifies people into 16 personality types based on how they view or perceive the world around them, whether they are driven by thoughts or feelings, and whether they are extroverted or introverted.

While Darth Vader was portrayed as a villain in George Lucas’s films, the test described the character as a “highly driven individual” who can bring people together.



Rook herself did not have time to take the survey, as she had to answer a personal phone call. However, when she returned, her colleague Amanda Harber had already filled out the form on her behalf and reported that she had the same personality type as Vader.

Rook said that after the incident, she began to feel "unpopular" in the team. The incident also became one of the reasons for her dismissal the following month. She ultimately won the damages case. However, the court still rejected her claim that the "Darth Vader incident" led to "unfair termination."