Wednesday - August 24, 2011

calling ppl by names that appear to refer to their native countries is racist. huh?

I guess in today’s world one must expect this kind of nonsense.
I don’t understand anything about this. It’s way beyond stupid. What next?

Maybe there’s some kind of super hidden meaning here that only club members will understand.  Jeesh.  If this isn’t a good example of the overuse of the ‘R’ word, I haven’t a clue what is. 

Take a look.

Polish engineer nicknamed Borat by ‘racist’ colleagues wins £2,250 compensation
By STEVE DOUGHTY and ROB COOPER

A Polish engineer who was called Borat at work has been awarded £2,250 compensation after a tribunal ruled the nickname was racist.

Adrian Ruda was ‘degraded and humiliated’ by the nickname given to him by a fellow worker in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the panel found.

The decision means a million Poles and other Eastern Europeans now living in Britain are legally victims of racial abuse if bantering workmates call them by names that appear to refer to their native countries.

Borat, the comic character made famous by Sacha Baron Cohen, is said to be a national of Kazakhstan, the Asian former Soviet republic that borders Russia and China.
Kazakhs have long resented both the comedian and his films which they say traduce their nation and its people.
The Leeds tribunal declared someone who was not from Eastern Europe would not have been called Borat and so the engineer, from Wakefield-based TEi Ltd, ‘had been the subject of direct race discrimination’.

The tribunal also said the Borat image also insults Eastern Europeans.
TEi, which racked up substantial legal costs defending Mr Ruda’s claim, was ordered by the Leeds tribunal to put in place a workplace harassment and bullying policy.
It must now also train all employees in line with the policy and make them aware of the unacceptable conduct in Mr Ruda’s case.

Employment law experts said the verdict is a warning to other managers and their workers.
Barrister Daniel Barnett said: ‘Although the case sounds frivolous, imagine if an African employee was nicknamed “Uncle Tom” or “Kunta Kinte”.
‘There is no difference in principle; Mr Ruda was given this particular nickname because of his national origins and for no other reason.
‘Other employees who were not from Eastern Europe had been given nicknames associated with their personal characteristics rather than with their national origin.’

The tribunal declared that someone who was not from Eastern Europe would not have been called Borat and so the engineer ‘had been the subject of direct race discrimination.’

Mr Ruda, an engineering supervisor, was called Borat over a four-week period in the autumn of 2007 by one of the welders in his charge, the tribunal said.
He did not object to the name and regularly replied to it with a Borat catchphrase, ‘I love you.’

The panel found the evidence given by the welder and all his colleagues at their Wakefield-based company, TEi Ltd, to be ‘forthright and honest’.
But it said the welder who used the nickname Borat – and who also called Mr Ruda ‘gay’, that ‘his knowledge and appreciation of discrimination in 2007 and even in 2011 left a great deal to be desired.’

The tribunal said it disbelieved Mr Ruda’s evidence on a string of counts, including his claims that he spoke poor English and that a series of other colleagues abused him over a long period of time.

It said the engineer had been ‘less than honest’ over a number of his claims.

However it said he was a victim of both race and sex discrimination and said ‘the use of the nickname Borat was an act of racial harassment.
Employment judge Jonathan Whittaker ruled: ‘The application of the nickname “Borat” violated Mr Ruda’s dignity in the period in question and created for him a degrading, humiliating and defensive work environment.

‘Although the majority, if not all, other employees had nicknames applied to them, the examples of other nicknames which were given to the tribunal were not in any way associated with the racial or national origins of the persons in question.

‘There was therefore a significant difference between the nicknames applied to others and the nickname applied to Mr Ruda.’

The tribunal allowed Mr Ruda’s claims to succeed even though he was almost three years too late in law bringing them.
It took into account that Mr Ruda was unfamiliar with British working practices and ruled that it was ‘in the interests of justice’ to extend the time limit.

source

Posted by peiper     on 08/24/2011 at 11:15 AM   
Filed Under: • Racism and race relations • Stoopid-People •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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