One more of those crazy stories involving a Muslim complaining of mistreatment, and getting a court to agree, is here.
A Muslim porter has successfully sued a five-star country hotel for religious harassment after he won a bottle of Cognac in a raffle – but bosses gave him ‘cheap’ chocolate instead.
Managers at the 17th century 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 French brandy.
The 37-year-old, who had originally trained as a vet in Algeria before moving to the UK, was working as a linen porter at the luxurious £400-a-night Lainston House, near Winchester, Hants.
At a staff party in January 2017 a raffle took place and although Mr Kioua was not at the event, a ticket he had purchased was drawn and he won a bottle of Cognac.
Two members of staff, who were handing out the prizes, realised Mr Kioua did not drink alcohol 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 a bottle of Taittinger champagne as a present 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.’
Yet they also knew that he, Mr. Kioua, did not drink. Apparently he had received a bottle of Taittinger champagne in the past and likely re-gifted it to a non-Muslim. But the people running the raffle assumed he would prefer to receive something he could himself consume; they hit right away on a box of chocolates. There was no malice aforethought.
When he challenged Ms Lee about the ‘cheap box of chocolates’ he had been given instead of the expensive liquor, she was apparently ‘dismissive’.
The employment tribunal, held in Southampton, Hants, heard Mr Kioua then accused Ms Lee of ‘theft’ for swapping the Cognac.
A grievance meeting was held and manager Gaius Wyncoll claimed the gift had been ‘tailored’ to Mr Kioua and said it was a ‘thoughtful gesture’ that had nothing to do with religion.
The switching of the prize was not done to “steal” the Cognac, as Kioua charged Ms. Lee with doing, but to address what the others thought would be a problematic prize for Mr. Kioua. They assumed, in good faith, that as a Muslim he could not drink the Cognac. He had, after all, told everyone he did not drink. As the manager of the hotel, Gaius Wyncoll, said, it was a “thoughtful gesture.” But then he added that “it had nothing to do with religion.”
That was a strange remark. Of course the substitution of a box of chocolates for the Cognac had everything to do with religion, with the Islamic prohibition on alcohol.. The assumption was that as a Muslim Mr. Kioua could not have consumed the cognac and thus the management made “the thoughtful gesture” of substituting the chocolates.
He [Gaius Wyncoll] 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 rejected that explanation and 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.’
By all accounts, the hotel had always treated Mr. Kioua well. No evidence has been presented that they didn’t “want that prize to be going to” Mr.Kioua. They were trying only to do right by him, and he tried to turn it into a malevolent wrong.
He told Mr Wyncoll that ‘a religion or belief is not an illness’.
And no one treated his religious beliefs as an illness. Instead, they treated the Muslim ban on alcohol with the greatest respect, in attempting to accommodate Mr. Kioua’s beliefs.
Nonetheless, his grievance was dismissed and he was told the swap had absolutely ‘no connection to religious beliefs’.
To me that claim makes no sense. So confused and terrified are people in the U.K. of being accused of “islamophobia” that they have in their confusion denied the obvious. The swap had everything to do with accommodating, however imperfectly, Mr. Kiouwa’s religion and its ban on alcohol.
Perhaps what those running the raffle ought to have done, so as to avoid trouble with the litigious Mr. Kiouwa, is to have substituted for the Cognac not chocolates but a gift certificate equal in value to the Cognac. That should have shut him up. Or maybe not: perhaps he would then claim that “by not awarding me the Cognac, you were making a statement to the staff that ‘Mr. Kiouwa is different from the rest of us.’ I found that deeply hurtful.”
The disgruntled porter launched an appeal, which was again thrown out, although he was offered a replacement bottle of Cognac and told ‘no offence was intended’.
Why did Mr. Kioua refuse a replacement bottle of cognac? Because he wanted much more than a bottle of Cognac. He wanted a large financial settlement that would be proper recompense for his claim of mental anguish. He wanted to stick it, every which way he could, to the Infidels who ran the hotel.
A short while later, Mr Kioua was forced to go home to look after his sick mother and due to other health issues, he ended up taking a significant amount of time off work.
Despite help from the hotel, which offered him substantial support, Mr Kioua resigned in April 2019.
His employers were clearly determined to bend over backwards for Mr. Kioua. They did not fire him when he missed a great deal of work, as they well might have, but instead offered him “substantial support,” presumably by keeping him on the staff despite his long absences.
Mr Kioua launched a number of claims against the hotel after his resignation, including victimisation, failure to make reasonable adjustments in respect of disability and constructive unfair dismissal, but all were dismissed.
All those charges were dismissed because they were entirely without merit. He was not victimized. The hotel made adjustments to accommodate his frequent absences from work. His own claim of “disability” was not accepted. But the mere fact that as soon as he quit – he was not fired – he came up with a laundry-list of complaints to sue about, shows his malevolent attitude toward his former employer, and his determination to squeeze it for all he could get. Thankfully, only one charge was upheld, though many will find that charge, too, was also without merit.
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….
Mr. Kioua’s feelings were apparently hurt – he’s a sensitive soul, is Mr. Kioua – when he did not receive the Cognac he had won in a raffle because those running the raffle thought it would offend him, as a Muslim who was not allowed to drink alcohol. They knew he did not drink; he had said so. As a kindness to him they substituted what at once came to mind – a box of chocolates. He sued them for this attempt to be solicitous of his feelings as a Muslim.
What was the poor employer to do? The management tried to accommodate Mr. Kiouwa, by providing him with a non-alcoholic prize, and he sued for mental distress. What if they had done nothing, and awarded him the raffle prize of the bottle of Cognac? Does anyone doubt that Mr. Kiouwa would then have sued for the same mental distress, charging that his employer “knew I did not drink and was giving me a prize he knew I could not enjoy, and holding me up to ridicule before the entire staff, who were all this time making comments about whether I would make an exception since this was a top-of-the-line Napoleon brandy. This caused me grievous mental anguish.”
Mental anguish if he isn’t given the Cognac, mental anguish if he is. Mr. Kiouwa, like so many Muslims now in the lands of the Infidels, knows how to play the victim, and pocket the proceeds, which are out of all proportion to the harm supposedly inflicted.
Rob R (Brit stuck in Britainistan) says
They could just as easily be being sued or jailed right now, if they had chosen to give it to him.
Why does the UK have any pretense of being a non-Muslim country any more?
Rarely says
He BOUGHT a raffle ticket knowing the prizes. Any complaint would be summarily dismissed.
mortimer says
Rarely points out that the man participated in GAMBLING … don’t they realize that GAMBLING IS A SIN IN ISLAM?
Rarely says
So he’s not religious. Big deal. Much ado about nothing here.
Rarely says
It was stupid not to give him the cognac. After all he had purchased a ticket knowing full well what the prize was. I would have been upset and felt insulted too especially if the excuse was my religion. That a “cheap” box of chocolates was used as a replacement would further that insult and lead credence to the accusation that one of the organizers had their eye on the cognac. They weren’t being sensitive but stupid.
As to his clear overreaction and other complaints — just playing the victim of course. But those complaints may have less to do with him being a muslim and more to do with being an opportunist — a characteristic not reserved for muslims.
Dave from San Antonio says
If they gave him the cognac…then he’d whine that was against his religion and that they knew it was. Even though he knew what the ticket he purchased was for…he’d whine and cry. Either way…he took them for a ride. Islam…the maker of perpetual religious ‘victims’…and the slayer of all those critical of their cult or who refuse to join.
Rarely says
Disagree. There is no reason to believe he would have complained about getting the prize he bought a ticket for — cognac.
gravenimage says
Hard to know. A lot of raffles have multiple prizes–he may have hoped to win one of the other prizes.
Dave from San Antonio says
First…He’s muslim and alcohol is ‘supposed’ to be off limits. I lived in a muslim country for awhile and yes, they do drink and when they do, they drink behind closed doors. Not all do this, but enough do. Pious during the day, but closet bar-flies by night. Second and most important…The UK let the camel get it’s nose in the tent and now, the whole animal is trying to squeeze it’s way in. The UK needs to wise up, some, and take drastic steps to push the camel back out. If they have to kill the camel, so be it. We’ve got the same problem, here in the U.S.
IanB says
The tent is now full of camel shit.
John says
When he refused a replacement bottle of Cognac that should have been the end of it.
TruthSeeker says
Damned if you do, damned if you dont! If you give Muzzies something forbidden in their faith then they scream about how insensitive and unfair things are. If you withhold it out of respect for their faith then you are guilty as hell for being unfair to them. This would have resulted in a legal victory for the muzzie even if he had been given the bottle of Cognac.
Mykejohn says
What is the matter here?! I am trying to see outside the box as clearly as l can. Provided he won the prize at stake fair and square then he is worthy of his prize-end of matter! .
Rarely says
Exactly.
gravenimage says
It is not about him not “being worthy” of the prize. His employers knew he did not drink and were trying to be sensitive in offering him a prize they thought he could use and would not be offended by–the chocolates. Even if you think the Hotel made an error in the way they handled the situation, his suing them is just appalling.
Ade Fegan says
Got off lightly !
It would have been 10 grand for “cultural insensitivity” if they had given cognac !
FYI says
The muslim porter obviously came to the Uk so he could “bring home the bacon”{ba boom}
{Sorry ,maybe I should have said..”bring home the halal meat”:nope,that doesn’t work.
The word halal ‘COULD be offensive to muslims’ ,construed as being ‘islamophobic’ hate speech and unnecessarily racist towards the Halali people of Halalistan.
And I realize ‘ba boom’ might be offensive to islamic jihadis by making it sound as if they like to blow themselves up..}
Jayell says
This story gets more interesting as more facts come out.
So Kioua had been trained as a vet back in Algeria but was only working as a hotel porter in the UK. Vets in the UK, like doctors, are carefully selected, rigorously trained, highly respected and highly paid and it’s an honour to be one of them. Few workers in the hotel business over here, however, are that highly respected, trained or paid, and certainly not hotel porters. So what was a trained Algerian vet doing in the UK working as a hotel porter? Whatever the reasons, it looks suspiciously like there’s a social status issue here; for example, someone who’s convinced they’re a cut above everyone else, therefore nothing’s ever going to be good enough, especially with the indignity of having to work in an ‘unworthy’ environment with ‘unworthy’ people who can ipso facto do no right. That’s all surmise, of course, but it would certainly seem to explain all the malicious, fatuously fabricated complaints designed to prop up the ego but nothing much else. However we don’t always get this sort of thing in these situations – except when muslims are involved, for some reason?
Dude says
It was a win-win for Farook. Get the prize, get offended for being offered booze; not given the prize, raise hell for being cheated.
I just walk away. I don’t chitchat with tigers; I don’t acknowledge the desert psychos. My life is too valuable to waste.
Boycott Turkey says
Hmmm £2,294 I don’t think that’s enough
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Who wants to play the Sharia Lottery?
The official sweepstakes game of all
dhimmi countries. All you need is a gripe
and a dream (of Islamic hegemony).
James Lincoln says
So, moving forward, what are the chances that alcohol be offered as a raffle prize in the UK?
gravenimage says
Another good question, and probably part of the reason for the lawsuit.
gravenimage says
UK: Muslim Wins $2,900 for Not Being Given a Cognac Prize
…………………..
Good grief…
This is what his employers get for trying to be considerate of his not drinking.
Giacomo Latta says
Upon being shown the bottle of Cognac that he had won, Mr. Kioua probably had an immediate vision of opening the bottle and sticking a wick in it. No wonder he fell off his rocker.