Muslim caterer sues police OVER SAUSAGES

Muslim catering manager has accused the Metropolitan Police of religious discrimination as he was told he may have to handle sausages and bacon.
Hasanali Khoja was told he would be expected to handle pork products at his new job at the Empress State Building in Earls Court, west London.
His lawyer said Mr Khoja was excused from pork meat in his previous job at Hendon Police College in north London.
An informal agreement was reached with the force but he wants it formalised.

Obviously nobody in my situation would be happy Hasanali Khoja

An employment tribunal in Watford will consider his claim in May 2009.
A Metropolitan Police (Met) spokesman said it was defending a claim of religious discrimination brought against it at an employment tribunal.
Islam forbids the consumption of pork meat or products containing pork.
Mr Khoja, a senior catering manager, has been working with the Met since 2005 and filed the claim in the tribunal last year.
He said: "Obviously nobody in my situation would be happy. Pork handling is the issue."
Religious beliefs
His lawyer Khalid Sofi said: "The claim is about his religious beliefs. They failed to accommodate him as they had a duty to do under the law.
"He would have had to do certain things and bacon would have been involved."
Mr Sofi said the Met reached an informal agreement with his client in June to excuse him from handling pork products after he took special leave from his job.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A catering manager is bringing employment tribunal proceedings against the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) alleging religious belief discrimination.
"The MPS is defending the claim."

tough if he don't like handling pork/bacon he should leave the job.if i had such religious convictions i certainly wouldn/t take a job i knew full well would involve handling any piggy bits.

What is the world coming to. If your religion forbids you to handle something with pork then find a job that you do not have to come in contact with it . Its simple.

Most muslims in the catering industy over here and in the UK realise that handling pork is part of the job, most do immedietly wash their hands again afterwards and do something to sort of get forgiveness for touching pork etc, but then they just get on with their job.

One of our chefs finds it quite funny that he cooks the nicest fall of the bone ribs you have ever tasted and gets lots of compliments, yet he hasnt a clue what it tastes like himself.

Here is Richard Littlejohn's take on it :

How to make a pig's ear out of a dog's breakfast...



There are some stories which are so preposterous on so many levels
that it is difficult to know where to start. Take the case of the
Muslim chef suing the police for religious discrimination after being
asked to cook sausages.
Hasanali Khoja is accusing Scotland Yard of breaking an agreement that he did not have to handle pork.
It
is reported that this deal was done when he was appointed as catering
manager at Hendon police college in 2005. Whoever heard of a chef being
excused pork?




Apparently, this arrangement worked quite well until he was
transferred to a nick in West London, where he was expected to prepare
the speciality of the house - the '999 breakfast' which includes bacon,
sausages and black pudding.
At this request, Mr Khoja had a
fit of the vapours. 'The Met has shown no sensitivity towards my
religion. Their response has been ill-thought and discriminatory. No
Muslim in my position should have to face such harassment,' he
complained.
'I never enrolled to cook pork. I refused to do it. I never did it and I never would.'
Naturally,
he now wants a large sum of money by way of com-pen-say-shun - an
action which is being supported by the usual bunch of professional
troublemakers at the Muslim Police Association.
His lawyer Khalid Sofi said: 'He has genuine and strong religious beliefs and expects that they will be accommodated.'
Of course he does. The Met has a long and undistinguished record of grovelling to this kind of opportunist bullying.
What
astonishes me is that he ever applied for a job cooking for policemen
in the first place. What, precisely, did he think they serve up in a
police canteen - vegetarian samosas?
Actually, under Ian Blair and his deranged 'diversity' policy, the answer is probably: yes.
But
that's not the point. The Old Bill marches on its stomach and the Full
English is a staple of a policeman's diet. Where would Inspector Jack
Frost be without his supply of sausage sarnies?


Hasanali Khoja objected to handling pork while working as a chef for the Met
If
Mr Khoja objects to cooking bacon and bangers he should have got
himself a job in an Indian restaurant. The curry trade is always crying
out for decent chefs, which is why it has to import so many from the
sub-continent.
There was a story recently that curry houses
were even considering retraining Polish plumbers in the art of the
tandoori because of a critical shortage of staff.As it happens,
much as I love a good fry-up, I can't stand the smell of roast pork. So
my wife cooks it for herself when I'm out for dinner. For that reason,
though, I wouldn't apply for a job as a chef in a restaurant which is
famous for barbecued pig's trotters.
Yes, yes, I know that they could have asked someone else to cook the bacon and sausages, but why should they?
When
Mr Khoja was interviewed at Hendon, he should have been told in no
uncertain terms that the job included cooking pork products. If he had
a fundamental objection, he should go and work somewhere else.
Hiring a chef who won't cook sausages to work in a police canteen is like hiring a lifeguard who can't swim.
Typically, I would imagine, the police were so terrified of being accused of 'racism' that they took him on regardless.
Then
again, if Mr Khoja really was as devout as he would have us believe, he
would never have considered taking a job which would bring him into
contact with 'unclean' meat.

Back
in June, the Met capitulated and offered an informal agreement that he
wouldn't have to handle pork. But that wasn't good enough for him and
he's now suspended on full pay pending an industrial tribunal hearing
next May.
So for the best part of a year, we're paying his
wages and no doubt picking up the bill for legal aid while he pursues
his claim.
Why has this crazy action got to wait until May
to be heard? It shouldn't take more than five minutes to resolve. Worst
case, the Old Bill pays up his notice period and sends him away to look
for another job.
And why are the Muslim Police Association involved? Mr Khoja isn't a policeman. Come to that, there shouldn't be a
Muslim Police Association. But, then again, I'm not surprised. This is
about political leverage, about who runs the police - senior
management or the racially motivated awkward squad.

The full English breakfast, favoured by Met staff
At a wider level, it's just another example of the concerted campaign to impose a Muslim veto on public life in Britain.
We've
already had supermarkets bowing to pressure from Muslim checkout staff
who refuse to sell alcohol. They should all be sacked. If you don't
want to sell booze, don't get a job in an off-licence.
Then
there was the case of the forklift truck driver who claimed it was
religious discrimination to be asked to shift pallets of wine and beer
from one side of the warehouse to the other. He wasn't being forced to
drink it, for heaven's sake.
And plenty of Muslim
shopkeepers happily stock alcohol - and sausages, bacon and pork
scratchings - without feeling it compromises their religious beliefs in
any way.
At least on this occasion, the police are
resisting Mr Khoja's vexatious lawsuit. Good job, too, otherwise we'll
have Hindus applying for jobs at McDonald's and then refusing to sell
burgers. Or devout Catholic canteen staff refusing to cook anything but
fish on Fridays.
On that note, I'll leave it for now. All this talk of fry-ups has given me an appetite. I could murder a bacon sandwich.

I dont know why they just dont sack him, a tribuneral will probably only give him 6 months pay max anyway so they would be no worse off.

over 6 months waiting for the appeal is stupid

wayside wrote:I dont know why they just dont sack him, a tribuneral will probably only give him 6 months pay max anyway so they would be no worse off.

over 6 months waiting for the appeal is stupid

You sound like a caring employer :x

if he can't or won't do the job he should be sacked.to much toadying around these days.

Chok Dee Ja wrote:

wayside wrote:I dont know why they just dont sack him, a tribuneral will probably only give him 6 months pay max anyway so they would be no worse off.

over 6 months waiting for the appeal is stupid

You sound like a caring employer :x

I just dont think anyone should be paid for 7 months to do Naff All and then get a payout at the end of it, if you dont want to handle Pork thats fine but just dont work in a place that serves it.

I dont see why to find that strage Chok Dee Ja.

I employ some Muslims and they are excellent workers, at least one is quite a strict Muslim but we still have no problems over Pork with him,

I would no more employ a chef that would not cook pork than I would a driver who could not drive or a barman that would not serve alcohol.

I never said i found it strange.

Part of your quote came across as un caring

"I dont know why they just dont sack him"

Its obvioue that the guy should never have been given or accepted the job, If your religion means that much to you, get a job that would not go against your faith or be flexible, to come to the UK and take a job that is feeing the british and then try and stop the british from eating pork is not right.

The end result will be that he will loose his job why pay him for 7 months why we all await the decision.

I agree that he shouldnt have taken the job however it seems he moved from one police department to another and maybe at the initial interview for the first position this was discussed and accepted and he may have assumed the new position would carry the same condtions we dont know all the facts.

Btw he could also be british "to come to the UK and take a job that is feeing the british and then try and stop the british from eating pork is not right"

The worlds a ever changing place