BRITISH PUP NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT

Since this is a British pub that caters to Brits in New York, the owners should be able to hire only applicants from the United Kingdom, even though that is a form of employment discrimination. I also believe that a Mexican restaurant should be able to hire only Mexican workers, Korean restaurants only Korean workers, etc. It’s not like we’re talking about businesses which employ hundreds or thousands of workers practicing employment discrimination.

BRITISH PUB IN NEW YORK FACING HUMAN RIGHTS PROSECUTION AFTER ADVERTIZING FOR BAR STAFF WHO ARE FROM THE U.K.
New York City Commission on Human Rights accuse owners of discrimination

By Daniel Bates

Mail Online
May 6, 2013

A British pub in New York is facing a human rights prosecution and a £5,000 fine after advertising for bar staff who are from the UK.

The Longbow Pub and Pantry was accused of discrimination because the advert told applicants that ‘being British definitely works in your favour’.

Its owners also claimed that staff had to know why Liverpool v Everton is an important match, and that the Old Firm refers to a match between Celtic and Rangers and not a law company.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights disagreed and said its administrative code bans adverts which demand that staff be a specific nationality.

It has set up a ‘conciliation meeting’ for talks with the pub’s owners Jennifer and Michael Colbert but unless a deal is reached there will be a trial with a fine of up to £5,000.

Mrs Colbert is from Brooklyn in New York but considers herself an honorary Brit as her husband of 19 years, Mr Colbert, a carpenter, is from Wrexham.

They posted the advert to online classifieds website Craigslist after hiring somebody who did not know British culture.

Mrs Colbert said: ‘She was from (New) Jersey. The customers didn’t take to her.

'She didn’t understand when they were making jokes. There’s a certain cadence to the sarcasm that just flew over her shoulders’.

After asking her to leave they wrote the advert which read that they wanted ‘energetic and enthusiastic men and women with an appreciation of craft beer, good food, whisky and real football (a k a soccer).

‘Being British definitely works in your favour.'

Mr Colbert and his wife have vowed to fight the claims they are discriminating and wrote a letter to the commission outlining their case.

It read that staff working in their pub had to know that ‘knocking someone up’ is not about being pregnant as it does in the U.S., and that a banger had nothing to do with gangs, as in the American phrase ‘gang banger’.

Another issues was that Americans think that black pudding is a dessert, they wrote.

Cliff Mulqueen, the general counsel for the New York City Commission on Human Rights said that the Colberts were ‘missing the point’.

He told the New York Times: ‘There’s an argument that someone who works in a Chinese restaurant, for example, may need to speak Chinese in order to communicate with their co-workers.

‘But there’s a difference between saying you have to speak Chinese and saying you have to be Chinese.’