Monday, 27th September 2010
NIPPLE-tweaking and anti-gay jokes were on the menu at top Soho Chinese restaurant Yauatcha, claims a former employee.
"I suffered from sexual harassment," Vincent Ma alleges in his claim to an industrial tribunal against the Broadwick Street restaurant.
"I was the centre of the world that everyone makes jokes on."
Ma, 31, says that it was when he began to lose weight that the harassment stepped up.
"I was losing weight and, due to the tightness of the company uniform, a black T-shirt, my body figure was being shown."
"On one occasion, my nipples were popped out due to low temperature and one manager said to me it was sexy."
Another time, Ma says that a customer tweaked one of his nipples and that when told of the incident, Ma's manager said "Did you like it?"
"I can't tolerate their actions when it becomes frequent and aggressive," says Ma.
Ma also alleges that management at Michelin-starred Yauatcha didn't give him enough recovery breaks to help with his diabetes.
Both the sexual harassment and the diabetes-related claims are denied by Yauatcha, who say that Ma "actively participated" in any inappropriate comment type conversations.
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