Gay Restaurant Worker, Husband Awarded £120 000 Over Homophobic Bullying

A gay restaurant employee and his husband were awarded compensation to the value of over  £120,000 (AUD 216 000) after their homophobic boss referred to him as a “waitress” and used other anti-gay slurs. 

Trigger Warning: This story discusses homophobic conduct at the workplace and anti-gay slurs, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.

According to The Daily Mail, both Tim Jeurninck and Marco Scatena had reported to an employment tribunal that they had been “bullied for months on end” and were harassed by “slurs”. 

On one occasion, a director at the Italian restaurant complained about a dirty glass and made a snide comment saying, “I thought you people knew how to clean better.” 

When Jeurninck reported this incident to his boss, his response included a warning that the guest was from a Mafia family and suggested that he could have him killed. 

Couple Sues Over Discrimination And Bullying

Jeurninck’s husband and restaurant supervisor Scatena was a part-owner of the business. He was also sent “offensive” messages from fellow directors accusing him of stealing from the till and involving threats of violence towards him. 

The couple resigned and then sued the London restaurant Piatto in Battersea, for discrimination on account of their sexual orientation.  

The employment tribunal ruled in favour of the couple and said that there was “more than enough evidence” to prove that the other directors had attempted to force Scatena out of the business because he was gay. 

The couple, who married in 2017, began working at the restaurant in January 2018. During June and September, both Jeurninck and Scatena had been victims of homophobic “name-calling”. 

Couple Subjected To Homophobic Insults

Other allegations included Fabio Corona, a fellow director screaming at Jeurninck and calling him a “waitress” while laughing in June 2018.

When Jeurninck objected to the “waitress” insult, one of Corona’s friends proceeded to call him a “fucking faggot” in Italian, and added, “oh your waitress is very rude”. 

Another colleague told the tribunal that she had heard Garrano talking “exclusively” in Italian to exclude Jeurninck from understanding the homophobic insults. 

The panel heard that Garrano continued to call Jeurninck “any kind of derogatory term” in Italian to describe his sexual orientation.

Evidence Of Homophobic Behaviour

Judge Green agreed that there was a continuing pattern of homophobic behaviour that forced Scatena out of the business. 

“We have seen more than enough evidence to support the latter (Scatena being gay) in terms of offensive and sustained homophobic behaviour. It would be perverse to find otherwise.”

The judge said that Jeurninck and Scatena had established “they suffered from unwanted conduct as a result of their sexual orientation, which had the purpose of violating their dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.” 

Both men were awarded a sum of compensation for the harassment and discrimination caused by members of their former workplace. Jeurninck was awarded £41,732.30 (£28,000 inclusive for injury to feelings caused by discrimination) and Scatena was awarded £83,102.66 (£36,000 inclusive for injury to feelings).