London man sues over Nazi uniform gag London broker sues company that forced him to dress as Nazi
By Richard Allen Greene
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
January 31, 2001
LONDON, — A Jewish stockbroker is suing his former
employer for racial discrimination after being ordered to wear a Nazi uniform
to
work as punishment for tardiness.
Laurent Weinberger, whose grandmother died at Auschwitz,
complained that he had been called ``Yiddo" and ``Jew boy" by his manager and
a colleague at the London brokerage firm of Tullett & Tokyo Liberty.
Shortly after the Nazi uniform incident, which occurred last May,
Weinberger allegedly was moved from his department to another one, and his
pay was cut.
He resigned, and is now also alleging unfair dismissal in his complaint
against the firm.
An employment tribunal began hearing the case Wednesday.
Tullett & Tokyo denies racial discrimination, although it admits that
Weinberger's account of the Nazi uniform incident is substantially correct.
A statement from the company, excerpted in several British
newspapers, said that the atmosphere in Weinberger's department involved
``banter, including strong language, name calling and references to personal
characteristics or actual (or alleged) habits, much of which was in bad
taste."
The firm said that being made to wear costumes was a regular
punishment for being late, and that the choice of costume often reflected an
employee's ethnic background.
It cited instances of an Irish Protestant being made to wear a pope
costume and a Welsh employee being ordered to dress as Little Bo Peep, a
reference to sheep farming in Wales.
The company admits that telling Weinberger to wear the Nazi uniform
was ``wholly inappropriate," but also denies that it amounted to racial
discrimination because Weinberger was not singled out for abuse based on his
ethnic origin.
In a letter to Weinberger that the company made public, it said, ``We do
not believe that this misguided behavior amounted to race discrimination. Nor
do
we believe you held that belief at the time."
The company has offered to pay about $75,000 to a Jewish charity ``to
emphasize how inappropriate was this behavior" if Weinberger agrees to drop
the case.
The company said that it moved Weinberger from his department
because the unit was doing badly, not because of anti-Semitism or the Nazi
uniform incident.
Weinberger and his lawyers have refused to comment on the matter.
The Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitic incidents
in Britain, said the matter sounded like the sort of ``infantile behavior
that is
common" in London brokerage firms, which are often dominated by high-flying,
rowdy, wealthy young men.
``That doesn't excuse it,'' CST spokesman Michael Whine added.
