A former manager at Emporio Armani exclusive fashion store has received £18,000 in compensation after a tribunal ruled that he had been discriminated against for being HIV positive.
The central London tribunal found that bosses at the Emporio Armani restaurant had victimised an employee for having HIV.
The employee, who left his job in February of this year after 14 years service, was told he would be made redundant in April 2005 after the store was closed for refurbishment.
But the company managed to find alternative work for all of his colleagues, the Barnet Times reports.
The claim was brought against Orthet, who retail and distribute Armani group products in the UK.
The employee said: “I suffered depression, not from my illness but from losing my job. I cannot work at all now because of my low self-esteem. It is ironic that Mr Armani is fighting against Aids and HIV, when his own staff are suffering discrimination because of the disease.”
“It is not like I was telling them I had just been diagnosed and did not know how I would cope. The condition never affected my work.
The worker, who earned an annual salary of £21,000 a year, agreed an out of court settlement of £18,000 after winning his case for discrimination.
The tribunal panel ruled: “We would expect [the employee’s] many years of loyalty to be rewarded by the offer of at least a temporary position for the duration of the cafe’s closure.”
Updated 4 November 2013: the claimant requested his name be removed from this article.
