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Rabat - Mohamed Kotbi, the Moroccan banquet waiter at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel who made headlines in 2011 after he said he was forced by the hotel management to change his name to keep him from "scaring guests," is reportedly planning to sue the luxury hotel owned by the Hilton company again, and this time for firing him, according to the New York Post.
Mohamed, 52, who had worked at the Waldorf Astoria since 1984, previously filed a complaint against the hotel management for religious and racial discrimination. The suit was then settled for $17,500 according to court records.
It all started on Sept.13, 2001. Two days after the attacks on the World Trade Center when he was asked by the hotel administration to wear different name tags at work suggesting that his name was "Edgar" and "Hector" in order to prevent guests from being frightened by being served by someone whose name is Mohamed.
The Moroccan waiter filed discrimination complaints with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2005 and 2009, the newspaper added.
Kotbi said that he sued the hotel not only because of the name changes, but also because the administration did nothing to keep his work colleagues from calling him "terrorist," "al Qaeda boy," and other names.
“They really destroyed me,” Kotbi told the newspaper. “This was my life. It’s the only job I’ve ever had.”
Now, Mohamed Kotbi is planning to file another lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court this week for unlawful retaliation.
“If we can’t get justice for our client, we intend to take action in the community and protesting, picketing and rallying in front of the hotel,” Kotbi’s attorney Brad Gerstman was quoted as saying by the NY Post.
The Waldorf owners reportedly declined to comment on the issue.
Photo by Zandy Mangold
