Muslim sues hotel for not giving him cognac raff le prize
‘I should have been asked’
A MUSLIM porter has successfully sued a five- star country hotel for religious harassment after he won a bottle of cognac in a raffle – which his bosses replaced with chocolates.
Managers at the hotel told Zakaria Kioua that giving a Muslim alcohol was like giving nuts to a person with a nut allergy, an employment tribunal heard.
Mr Kioua, who does not drink, replied ‘religion is not an illness’ and accused hotel staff of theft for attempting to fob him off with ‘cheap chocolates’ rather than the e French brandy.
The 37-year-old, who had trained as a vet in Algeria before moving to the UK, was working as a linen n porter at the £400-a-night Lainston - House, near Winchester, r, Hampshire. At a staff party in n
January 2017 a raffle took place and although Mr Kioua was not present, he won a bottle of cognac with a ticket he had bought.
Two members of staff, who were handing out the prizes, realised Mr Kioua did not drink and ‘on the spur of the moment’ suggested he be given chocolate instead.
The housekeeping manager, Patricia Lee, accepted the swap on his behalf, despite knowing that Mr Kioua had been given champagne in the past.
Mr Kioua told the tribunal: ‘As a human, I should have been asked. They know I do not have problems receiving alcohol.’
When he challenged Miss Lee about the ‘cheap box of chocolates’ he had been given instead of the expensive spirit, she was apparently ‘dismissive’ ‘dismissive’. The employment tribunal in Southampton heard that Mr Kioua then accused Miss Lee of theft for swapping the cognac.
A grievance meeting was held and manager Gaius Wyncoll claimed the gift was a ‘thoughtful gesture’ that had nothing to do with religion. Mr Wyncoll reportedly added: ‘[If] someone has got a nut allergy or a nut intolerance and they were given a box of chocolates that contains nuts do you not feel it would be appropriate that we then change that prize, you know, on the night?’
Mr Kioua replied: ‘It’s different. They don’t want that prize to be going to me and they’ve used my religion to get what they want.’
He told Mr Wyncoll that ‘a religion or belief is not an illness’.
Nonetheless, his grievance was dismissed and he was told the swap had absolutely ‘no connection to religious beliefs’. The porter appealed, which was thrown out, although he was offered a replacement bottle of cognac.
A short while later, Mr Kioua was forced to take a significant amount of time off to care for his mother and because of health issues.
Despite the hotel offering him substantial support, he resigned in April 2019 and launched a number of claims, including victimisation, failure to make reasonable adjustments in respect of disability and constructive unfair dismissal, but all were dismissed.
However, the tribunal awarded him £2,294 in respect of injury to feelings for the cognac incident and determined Mr Kioua’s claim of harassment related to religion or belief succeeded.
Employment Judge Street said: ‘A nut allergy is an illness. It is not an acceptable... comparison. It should not have been said, just as the decision should not have been made to change Mr Kioua’s prize.
‘Both are on the grounds of his religion. Both are offensive and caused him distress.’
However, Mr Kioua’s claims that Miss Lee had stolen the bottle for herself were found to be ‘fanciful’.