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Waiters say they were fired for being French
MSNBC ^ | June 21, 2005

Posted on 06/27/2005 1:25:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Posh N.Y. eatery alleges insubordination, drinking on the job

Three former waiters at New York’s posh 21 Club, where a hamburger costs $30, have filed a $5 million discrimination lawsuit saying they were fired for being French.

In a civil suit made public on Monday at Manhattan Supreme Court, the three men, Rene Bordet, 68, Jean Claude Lesbre, 63 and Yves Thepault, 68, said the restaurant’s management falsely accused them of drinking wine on the job and “created and fostered an environment rife with anti-French sentiment.”

Both Bordet and Lesbre worked for 10 years as waiters and floor captains before being fired in 2004 after accusations of drinking on the job. Thepault, who worked for 14 years as a waiter, was fired in 2005 for gross insubordination after an argument with a chef over a hamburger, court papers said.

The suit accused 21 Club of engaging in “a concerted and egregious course of action to rid (the restaurant) of its older and long-term employees of French national origin.”

Bordet and Lesbre deny they were drinking alcohol and said when another employee was caught drinking on the job, on four occasions, he was only given a one-week suspension.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: employment; france; newyork; tantpis; waiters
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1 posted on 06/27/2005 1:25:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Works for me.

Really, they have a case for age discrimination - not for being French. Sacre blue!


2 posted on 06/27/2005 1:27:09 PM PDT by iceskater ("Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." - Kipling)
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To: nickcarraway
“created and fostered an environment rife with anti-French sentiment.”

I guess one could argue that firing people who drink wine on the job is fostering ant-French sentiment...

3 posted on 06/27/2005 1:29:01 PM PDT by jscd3
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe they wouldn't have been so easily identified as "French" if they hadn't carried a white flag and kept their hands raised continually...


4 posted on 06/27/2005 1:29:27 PM PDT by TommyDale
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To: nickcarraway

That lawsuit shouldn't survive a preliminary motion to dismiss: It's common knowledge that the French themselves have created an anti-French environment. You'd think that would be a basic tenet of British common law as adopted by the American legal system.


5 posted on 06/27/2005 1:30:45 PM PDT by mikeus_maximus
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To: nickcarraway

All of these people worked there for a decade-plus. Are they arguing that the employer JUST NOW discovered they were French?


6 posted on 06/27/2005 1:32:44 PM PDT by DameAutour
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7 posted on 06/27/2005 1:33:03 PM PDT by evets (</sarcasm>)
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To: jscd3
I guess one could argue that firing people who drink wine on the job is fostering ant-French sentiment...

The lost appetites of customers being served by women with hairy armpits probably had something to do with it too.

8 posted on 06/27/2005 1:34:09 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sicked and tired!)
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To: nickcarraway

Qeul domage.

(Or is it "quelle"? I forget my high school French.


9 posted on 06/27/2005 1:35:04 PM PDT by Maceman (The Qur'an is Qur'ap.)
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To: nickcarraway

Only in NY.


10 posted on 06/27/2005 1:35:41 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: iceskater

.Really, they have a case for age discrimination - not for being French....

Yes but being French they could no better than screw up a job discrimination suit.

If Frogs drink wine do they get drunk?


11 posted on 06/27/2005 1:35:51 PM PDT by bert ( "Market forces, not political majorities, will compel societies to reconfigure themselves in ways t)
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To: nickcarraway
Bring money.
12 posted on 06/27/2005 1:36:50 PM PDT by southernnorthcarolina (What happens in Waxhaw STAYS in Waxhaw.)
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To: nickcarraway


13 posted on 06/27/2005 1:37:59 PM PDT by monkapotamus
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To: mikeus_maximus

I agree, they should be sueing Jacques Chirac.


14 posted on 06/27/2005 1:38:54 PM PDT by Wristpin ( Varitek says to A-Rod: "We don't throw at .260 hitters.....")
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: southernnorthcarolina
The lost appetites of customers being served by women with hairy armpits probably had something to do with it too.

Or perhaps the failure to bathe caused them to smell like an over-ripe brie cheese.

Frankly I can hardly think of a better reason to fire somebody then simply being French.

16 posted on 06/27/2005 1:41:40 PM PDT by jackbenimble (Import the third world, become the third world)
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To: nickcarraway

"fired for being French"

Gimme a break.....they were HIRED because of being french, in that artsy-fartsy ristorante!


17 posted on 06/27/2005 1:43:48 PM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To: bert

I guess they surrendered on the age discrimination claim.


18 posted on 06/27/2005 1:49:08 PM PDT by iceskater ("Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." - Kipling)
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To: monkapotamus

19 posted on 06/27/2005 1:52:38 PM PDT by EdHallick (It`s time to play the feeuuud! "Name something evil" "Hitlery" ..Good answer good answer "Survey say)
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To: nickcarraway

Wait a minute, these French work?


20 posted on 06/27/2005 1:53:33 PM PDT by EdHallick (It`s time to play the feeuuud! "Name something evil" "Hitlery" ..Good answer good answer "Survey say)
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