On Nov 27, 10:25 am, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Martin Reed
> Date: Sunday,
>
> She'll probably lose this of course (wrong religion) but she'd be more
> certain of losing if she'd been born here (wrong race).
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8917675/Christian-worker-los...
>
> Christian worker loses her job after being 'targeted' by Islamic extremists
>
> A Christian worker has launched a landmark legal action after she lost her
> job when she blew the whistle on what she says was a campaign of "race
> hate" by fundmentalist Muslims.
>
> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
>
> 7:30AM GMT 27 Nov 2011
>
> Nohad Halawi, who worked at Heathrow Airport, is suing her former employers
> for unfair dismissal, claiming that she and other Christian staff at the
> airport were victims of systematic harassment because of their religion.
>
> She claims that she was told that she would go to Hell for her religion,
> that Jews were responsible for the September 11th terror attacks, and that
> a friend was reduced to tears having been bullied for wearing a cross.
>
> Mrs Halawi, who came to Britain from Lebanon in 1977, worked in the
> duty-free section as a perfume saleswoman of the airport for 13 years but
> was dismissed in July.
>
> Her case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, who say it
> raises important legal issues and also questions over whether Muslims and
> Christians are treated differently by employers.
>
> It comes amid growing concern among some Christians that their faith is
> being marginalised and follows calls from Lord Carey, the former Archbishop
> of Canterbury, for Christians to be given greater legal protection in the
> wake of a series of cases where they have been disciplined or dismissed for
> practising their faith.
>
> It also raises further questions over race relations at Heathrow Airport.
>
> Last week, Arieh Zucker, a Jewish businessman, complained that he has been
> repeatedly singled out for full-body scans by Muslim security staff at the
> airport.
>
> The 41-year-old mortgage broker from London has accused them of "race hate"
> and is threatening to sue for racial discrimination after being made to
> "feel like a criminal" while being scanned.
>
> Mrs Halawi's case centres on whether she was treated unfairly when she lost
> her job in World Duty Free in Terminal 3 after she spoke out over what she
> described as bullying and intimidation by her Muslim colleagues of her and
> other Christians.
>
> She said that she was the subject of a complaint by an Islamic colleague
> which was specious and that when she raised her own concerns as a
> Christian, she was the one who was dismissed.
>
> Now she is distraught at losing her job on allegations made by what she
> describes as a small group of "extremist" Muslims.
>
> Mrs Halawi, 47, said: "I have been sacked on the basis of unsubstantiated
> complaints so there is now great fear amongst my former colleagues that the
> same could happen to them if one of the Muslims turns on them.
>
> "This is supposed to be a Christian country, but the law seems to be on the
> side of the Muslims."
>
> A mother of two, she says that she had always got on well with her Muslim
> colleagues and relations between staff of different faiths had been good in
> the past, but that the atmosphere became increasingly uncomfortable with a
> growing number of employees espousing "fundamentalist Islam".
>
> She says they harassed Christians at work by making fun of them for wearing
> crosses, ridiculing Jesus and telling them they would go to Hell if they
> did not convert to Islam.
>
> "One man brought in the Koran to work and insisted I read it and another
> brought in Islamic leaflets and handed them out to other employees," she
> said.
>
> "They said that 9/11 served the Americans right and that they hated the
> West, but that they had come here because they want to convert people to
> Islam.
>
> "They say that Jesus is s***** [shitty] and bullied a Christian friend of
> mine so much for wearing her crosses that she came to me crying."
>
> Mrs Halawi says she was targeted by the fundamentalists after she stood up
> for her friend, who is 62 and who she is keeping anonymous because she
> still works at the terminal.
>
> In May, five of her Muslim colleagues complained to David Tunnicliffe, the
> trading manager at World Duty Free, accusing her of being anti-Islamic
> following a heated conversation in the store.
>
> The row had stemmed from her description of a Muslim colleague as an
> allawhi, which means 'man of God' in Arabic. Another Muslim overheard this
> and thought she said Alawi, which was his branch of Islam.
>
> Following the complaints she was suspended immediately, but was not told
> the grounds for her suspension until she met Mr Tunnicliffe in July.
>
> Two days after the meeting she received a letter, which said the "store
> approval" - the Heathrow security pass - needed to work at World Duty Free
> was being removed because her behaviour was deemed to be unacceptable.
>
> "I believe that the breakdown in relationship between yourself and some of
> your colleagues has contributed to this situation and has led to a number
> of inappropriate conversations taking place," the letter said.
>
> "Whilst I do not believe that you may have meant to be offensive, I believe
> that it was not unreasonable for the individuals who either heard these
> comments, or who they were directed at to find them offensive, and they are
> extremely inappropriate."
>
> However, the only comments she made which Mr Tunnicliffe claimed were
> offensive relate to her accusing a Muslim colleague of having "extremist
> leaflets" and asking another Muslim why Jesus was being described as
> "s*****".
>
> She was paid on a freelance basis by Caroline South Associates, a fragrance
> and cosmetics agency that provides staff to work in World Duty Free, and
> was told that she would not be able to continue working without her pass.
>
> A petition signed by 28 colleagues, some of them Muslims, argued that she
> has been dismissed on the basis of "malicious lies", but failed to see her
> reinstated.
>
> Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and director of the Christian Legal
> Centre, said that the case is one of the most serious they have handled.
>
> "It raises huge issues," she said.
>
> "First, there is the level of Islamic fundamentalism prevalent at our main
> point of entry to the UK.
>
> "Then there are very real issues of religious discrimination, which it
> would appear those in authority are turning a blind eye to, using the
> current loop-holes in employment law as an excuse."
>
> The centre has instructed Paul Diamond, a leading human rights barrister,
> to represent Mrs Halawi in taking both Caroline South Associates and
> Autogrill Retail UK Limited, which trades as World Duty Free, to an
> employment tribunal.
>
> They hope that the case will set a precedent for thousands of people like
> Mrs Halaoui who would appear to be employees from the working relationship,
> but actually have no rights because of their self-employed status.
>
> A lawyer acting for CSA said: "The case is still pending so the company is
> not in a position to comment, but as far as the company is concerned she's
> never been an employee and has never been dismissed."
>
> A spokesman for World Duty Free said they were unable to comment because
> the matter is subject to "ongoing legal proceedings".
>
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