A woman legal assistant in Britain made the wrong anti-Semitic remark in front of the wrong person and paid $3,900 (2,500 pounds) to learn a lesson of being careful what you say.
The solicitor, 34-year-old Danielle Morris, made the comment in front of a legal bookkeeper, known in Britain as a “legal cashier,” who happened to be Jewish.
The solicitor has been telling a story in front of the cashier concerning a Jewish man that Morris said “made a scene” at the office of a doctor whom she was waiting to see with her baby.
After Morris said “I can’t stand Jews,” the Jewish cashier asker her not to repeat the remark, to which Morris responded, I don’t care. I cannot stand them ever since [the] incident” at the doctor’s office.” The cashier filed a religious discrimination complaint.
The employment court backed the cashier and authorized a hearing at the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SDT).
Morris admitted she made the remarks “without thinking” and that she tried three times without success to apologize to the cashier,
“The tribunal accepted the remarks made were foolish and ignorant rather than malicious,” said the hearing chairman Ken Duncan, who noted that Morris said she was not aware that her comment would be so offensive.
Morris said she now understands Jewish sensitivity a lot better.
After being fined $3,900 plus court costs slightly more than double that amount, Morris may have learned her lesson to bite her tongue.
The question remains if she can’t stand Jews even more.
