British Democracy Forum - View Single Post

Anthony Butcher · 24-11-2005, 01:50 AM

Quote:

A Muslim insurance salesman suffered religious discrimination because his employers offered only alcohol as a performance incentive, an employment tribunal heard.

Imran Khan, 25, claimed that the bottles of wine on offer put him at a disadvantage because, as a Muslim, he could not drink alcohol and was therefore unable to claim the prizes.

British-born Mr Khan, who works for Direct Line Insurance, is seeking damages for "hurt feelings" under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003.

The tribunal in Bristol heard that Mr Khan was one of a team of 14 in the city who were offered rewards for sales of pet and household insurance policies.

Mr Khan's team leader, Louise Cummings, said she introduced the incentives as a means of "improving staff morale and performance". "If I had realised that I had hurt anyone's feelings, then I would have taken steps to rectify that immediately," she added.

Tariq Sadiq, for the company, said that another Muslim worker, who had won an alcoholic prize in a similar scheme, had "simply" exchanged it for an alternative.

Judgment was reserved.

As a tee-totaller, I can understand that he might not want alcohol as a reward, but this is just ridiculous. It sounds like he is just an opportunist deliberately using his religion as an excuse to sue a company having made no attempt to ask for an alternative. If the article is accurate, I hope that they chuck it out and award costs to the company.